Hearing the Xie family clan head's words, the three family clan heads naturally had unwillingness in their eyes.
Their families had come all the way from betraying the Luohe Empire years ago to now, had won the family domains they held today, and the standing they had now.
How could they be willing to give up everything here?
"Old Xie. I'll trust you once more. If anything goes wrong again this time, our Meng family will drag your Xie family down to hell with us, even if it means our own family's ruin!" The Meng family's clan head glared at the Xie family's clan head.
"Sigh; do we have any choice now? This is a road of no return. It's a road that was settled from the moment our families betrayed the Luohe Empire." The Hu family's clan head sighed; whether she regretted her family's betrayal of the Luohe Empire back then, no one knew.
"Then no more talk. Let's get on with it. We'll stay here leading the four families' legion fleets and keep the enemy tangled up. With the forces we have in hand, three million interstellar warships, even if we can't beat the enemy, keeping them tangled up for thirty or fifty hours of fighting shouldn't be a problem. Old Xie, hurry and get in touch with your people in the Burns Interstellar Civilization," the Tai family's clan head said.
"Mm."
So the four family clan heads' course was set.
The Xie family's clan head at once began preparing to set off on the long journey to the Burns Interstellar Civilization's universe.
And the other three family clan heads stayed here to fight this bitter battle.
The Xie family's clan head took thirty interstellar warships, meaning to use a device at the rear of the battlefield for cross-universe travel.
And now he stood at the viewport on his flagship's bridge, looking at the starry sky in the distance, very nearly set alight.
His eyes were full of fear.
What did he see?
He saw that interstellar legion fleet from the T6 interstellar civilization open its attack with large numbers of interstellar heavy-artillery ships and interstellar missile ships.
The starry sky, once pitch-black, was now lit up by interstellar heavy guns and interstellar missiles,
falling like a meteor shower onto the positions of the four families' allied legions.
The sight was very shocking and very grand.
And in that moment the Xie family's clan head understood this T6 interstellar civilization's military strength all the more clearly.
He swallowed, and had already made a decision in secret.
He sent an order to his family at once: if he had not, after a certain time, persuaded the Burns Interstellar Civilization to send reinforcements to support them,
the Xie family was to find a way at once to take whatever resources could be carried and withdraw wholly from the Luohe Star Region.
And he himself would not come back to the Luohe Star Region again.
For he realized clearly that, in this war,
without a T6 interstellar civilization stepping in, the outcome was already settled.
This Xie family fleet left, carrying the Xie family's clan head, his heart heavy with cares.
And the allied legion fleets of the four families left behind were enduring a scene like hell.
The hundred thousand Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships' equipment
did not run to the large-scale interstellar missile ships of the Hell-Angel ace fleet group.
But among these hundred thousand interstellar warships
there were still fifty T5 Crimson-Reaper-class Heavy Interstellar Strategic Missile Ships and five hundred Hell-Angel-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ships,
and besides them a T6 Holy-Blood Hell-Angel-class Heavy Interstellar Strategic Missile Ship!
As for interstellar heavy-artillery ships,
there were likewise a hundred T5 Spear-of-Sin-class Heavy Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Ships and three thousand T4 Gorgon-class Heavy Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Ships!
Under such mighty, terrifying long-range fire,
almost in the very first round of attack, the defensive system of the four families' legion fleets' forward positions was smashed to collapse outright,
with very heavy losses of interstellar warships.
That gave the Owl Dragon legion fleets' charge on the main battlefield a very good effect.
Led by nearly fifty T6 Lord-of-Thunder-class Heavy Interstellar Destroyers, the rest of the T5 interstellar warships and T4 interstellar warships swarmed forward,
with air support from swarms of interstellar drones and interstellar fighters everywhere besides.
Almost from the very start, they beat the family legion fleets opposite until they could not parry at all.
The families had the advantage in numbers, but because the enemy's attack was so terrifying, and because they were four families' legion fleets, they could hardly organize any effective system of defense.
And whenever some defensive position was about to take shape, Xiong Xiangxiang's Emperor's Guard Fleet would appear and show a still more matchless, terrifying fighting power.
Before great numbers of T6 interstellar warships, there was almost no defensive position or net of fire they could not break.
That made the advance on the main battlefield go very smoothly, like a mower reaping the four families' legion fleets' interstellar warships swath by swath.
The Luohe Kingdom's three hundred thousand interstellar warships naturally took part too, but mostly swinging round both wings to close the pincers.
But because of the Owl Dragon legion fleets' fast, powerful attack,
an amusing picture even appeared:
the Luohe Kingdom legion fleets swinging round to close the pincers and surround the enemy were actually advancing slower than the Owl Dragon legion fleets charging head-on.
The sight gave General Leng Qian a thorough feeling of helplessness. Should she call it the fault of their kingdom's legion fleets?
But as their commander she knew very well that this was very nearly everything the kingdom's legion fleets could bring to bear.
To put it in a word:
it was not that they did not try hard; their ally was just too strong!
This campaign in the Luohe Star Region began very suddenly, went on very abruptly, and ended very quickly.
From the opening shots to the rout of the four great families' legion fleets took under a dozen-odd hours all told.
That was also because within those dozen-odd hours, the four great families' legion fleets lost over a million interstellar warships outright!
Mind you, the four great families' legion fleets massed here came to about three million interstellar warships.
In a dozen-odd short hours, over a million interstellar warships were destroyed.
Wasn't clearing up the rest of those interstellar warships only a matter of time?
As for the enemy ships the four great families' legion fleets destroyed, by contrast,
the total came to under fifty thousand!
And over nine-tenths of those were the Luohe Kingdom legion fleets' interstellar warships.
Mainly in the part of the legion fleets under General Leng Qian responsible for the encirclement: at first it was all right, but once the four great families' legion fleets began to fear the fighting power of this unknown T6 interstellar civilization's legion fleets,
the four great families' legion fleets began to split apart from within; even inside a single family's legion fleet there arose divisions.
Many thought that fighting on like this would only throw their interstellar warships away for nothing.
After all, the loss ratio before them, fifty to one, was something that had never happened in their history of soldiering.
It was wholly a one-sided crushing.
So they already knew very well in their hearts that on their own they were no match at all for this unknown T6 interstellar civilization's fleet.
At first there were only arguments.
But some, meeting a hard line from above, after holding it in for so long, and after witnessing too many sights of the enemy's interstellar legion fleets wreaking havoc,
at last broke down inside; interstellar warships began to shrink from battle and avoid it, until in the end some small fleet began to fall back and break out.
From small fleets at first, to whole corps fleets, and then even hundreds of thousands of interstellar warships began to break and flee.
And at this point the part of the Luohe Kingdom legion fleets under General Leng Qian, charged with swinging round to encircle, naturally bore very great pressure.
That cost them some losses, far more even than the Owl Dragon legion fleets fighting on the main battlefield.
For this, General Leng Qian herself felt her face burn.
To be fair, too many of the enemy's interstellar legion fleets were breaking and withdrawing, from tens of thousands at first to hundreds of thousands later,
very nearly more than the interstellar warships of the Luohe legion fleets General Leng Qian led.
So stopping them was no small task.
But as commander, even knowing how things stood,
with the fact set before her eyes, General Leng Qian still felt somewhat ashamed inside, even felt she could not face that Owl Dragon Emperor.
His legion fleets had fought on the main front and borne the hardest operational task.
Yet they themselves could not even complete a task of swinging round to encircle.
It made General Leng Qian scold her subordinates no little for disgracing themselves.
Back to the matter at hand.
With the four great families' legion fleets beginning to break,
Zhao Chen's side, as expected, ordered pursuit, to destroy as many of the enemy as possible, and to make the show big enough, for this was the battle Zhao Chen meant to arrange for the founding of the Luohe Kingdom.
Only if this founding battle was fought beautifully enough could it lay a good foundation for the Luohe Kingdom's rise to come!
The Luohe Star Region · half a month later
In a short half month, the Luohe Star Region had been turned upside down.
No one had imagined that in this short half month
the situation of five powers standing like the legs of a tripod would suddenly come to an end,
and at the hands of the Luohe Kingdom, the one least favored at that.
The Luohe Kingdom had recovered the territory it had lost before, at once restoring the full size of the old Luohe Empire's interstellar map.
The speed of this revival was beyond anything anyone had imagined.
And on the day after the old Luohe map was restored, Queen Leng Yun of the Luohe Kingdom announced that the Luohe Kingdom would hold a ceremony to proclaim the reunification of the Luohe Star Region, and matters of administration to follow.
For the Luohe Kingdom, and for the Luohe Kingdom's old-line factions, it could be called a day of great rejoicing.
The Luohe Kingdom · above the capital planet
Great numbers of interstellar warships gathered here, from every quarter of the Luohe Star Region, and even interstellar powers from beyond the Luohe Star Region had all come.
And on Royal Palace Hill on the Luohe Kingdom's royal capital planet, in the vast square on the summit, everything had been made ready.
Tens of thousands of guests had gathered here.
As the cannons of salute boomed all around, Queen Leng Yun of the Luohe Kingdom walked out of the palace and stood at the highest point at the head of the Luohe Square, where everyone could see Her Majesty the Queen in her valiant bearing.
And beside her stood two people:
the kingdom's two great marshals.
There should have been three great marshals, but as everyone knew, one marshal had betrayed the Luohe Kingdom before this upheaval in the Luohe Star Region.
So now there were only these two marshals:
the kingdom's old marshal, and the other, naturally, Marshal Leng Qian, whose star was riding so high of late!
Every eye gathered on these three.
As the salute ended, a band's lilting music rose in the distance.
In that moment, a hologram of the scene in the royal capital planet's square appeared on every major planet in the Luohe Star Region.
The trillions of subjects of the Luohe Star Region all watched this Queen of Luohe.
Queen Leng Yun swept her gaze over the tens of thousands of people in the square and began slowly to speak; her voice, through the amplifiers, carried across the whole square, the capital planet, and the Luohe Star Region.
"I, Leng Yun, Queen of the Luohe Kingdom, hereby proclaim that the Luohe Kingdom, after centuries sunk low, has today at last returned to its height; here we can tell our ancestors with confidence: we have now taken back all that is ours. The Luohe Star Region belongs to us again! Those who betrayed us have all paid a heavy price."
As Queen Leng Yun spoke, several videos appeared on the spot.
They were all scenes from this half month of the Luohe Kingdom clearing out the four great families' remnant forces, and every one of them showed only the Luohe Kingdom's own legion fleets;
not a single frame had anything to do with the Owl Dragon legion fleets.
That, naturally, was for secrecy's sake.
These images caught the scene of the attack on the Meng family's capital planet,
and the seizing and arrest of the four great families' direct-line members, with all their holdings confiscated,
and the trials of the four great families' direct-line members.
There was even the scene of the Hu family's clan head, of the four great families, hanging herself, and of the Tai family's clan head, sentenced for treason by the Luohe Kingdom's court-martial, being executed in public.
At these scenes, the Luohe old-line nobles in the square all went as if injected with chicken blood, cheering the names of the Luohe Kingdom and Queen Leng Yun.
After a proclamation,
Queen Leng Yun paused, waiting for the square to grow quiet.
She went on, "From this day, our Luohe Kingdom enters a whole new chapter. So, by the decision of the kingdom's council after discussion, from this day forth the Luohe Kingdom is renamed the Luohe Principality, and I serve as Queen of the Luohe Principality. …………"
What followed in the proclamation were the statutes of the Luohe Principality.
The founding of the Luohe Principality had in fact been discussed somewhat inside the old Luohe Kingdom too.
Most were surely against it; "principality" was only a word, but in common understanding it ranked with a kingdom, below an empire.
More people had hoped to found the Luohe Empire anew.
But those who knew how things stood underneath understood very well that they could never, ever found a Luohe Empire.
For behind them stood the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire.
It had not been publicly acknowledged, and in the agreement signed with the Owl Dragon Emperor the two sides were equal allies,
but everyone knew in their hearts that the Luohe Principality was a vassal of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire; for a vassal to become an empire just like its suzerain,
would that be fitting?
The Owl Dragon Emperor had said nothing,
but they knew very well their own standing and place, and so renamed the Luohe Kingdom the Luohe Principality.
Someone might still wonder: then why not keep the old title of kingdom? "The Luohe Kingdom" sounded a good deal better than "the Luohe Principality."
That was because when Queen Leng Yun and General Leng Qian talked it over,
both advised that, to mark a break with the history of humiliation before, the title of kingdom should not be carried on.
And they had chosen principality because Queen Leng Yun and General Leng Qian had a secret plan as well,
one drawn from the plan for future development the Owl Dragon Emperor had made for them.
In the plan the Owl Dragon Emperor had laid out for them, their territory would not be the Luohe Star Region alone; in future they might even hope to control the greater part of the Cancer Interstellar Civilization Universe.
By then, the Luohe Principality would become the "Luohe Grand Principality"!
That was what the two of them had in mind,
and so came the present plan of founding the "Luohe Principality."
With these two speaking for it, the kingdom's council, a mere mascot, naturally agreed unanimously.
"And in this Luohe Star Region campaign, two people showed outstanding merit. For this, I hereby read out the honors for the two of them. First, Old Marshal Zhou Xiong. Old Marshal Zhou has striven all his life for the cause of the Luohe Principality's revival; before this, leading our Luohe Kingdom's First Legion Fleet, he fought the rebel families on the border for many years, and won through in danger many times. He is a great hero of our Luohe Principality. I proclaim that Old Marshal Zhou Xiong is granted the rank of Honorary Marshal of the Principality, and a hereditary princedom of another surname."
Old Marshal Zhou Xiong bowed slightly beside her in thanks: "I thank Her Majesty the Queen for the reward."
"Further: General Leng Qian played a decisive part in this Luohe Star Region campaign, leading the legion fleets to punish the four rebel families and recover their territories. I proclaim that General Leng Qian is granted the rank of Honorary Marshal of the Principality and Supreme Grand Commander of all the Principality's forces, able to command all the forces of Luohe directly without any order from me."
"I thank Her Majesty the Queen for the reward." General Leng Qian stepped forward too to give her thanks.
To look at, the two rewards were equal, neither above the other.
But anyone with eyes could see that Old Marshal Zhou Xiong's reward was in fact more an empty name.
There were only two Honorary Marshals of the Principality in the Luohe Principality now, Leng Qian and him,
but it was only a title, with no real power at all.
The only thing that could be called of use was the hereditary princedom of another surname,
the only prince of another surname in the Luohe Principality so far.
It counted as a guarantee given to Old Marshal Zhou Xiong: from now on, the Zhou family would be the greatest family power in the Luohe Principality after the royal house.
So long as they did nothing to overstep, their Zhou family would prosper forever!
It counted as a promise from the Queen of Luohe to Old Marshal Zhou Xiong.
And General Leng Qian's was a real, true reward:
the title of supreme grand marshal of all the Principality's forces, and the power to command all the Principality's forces without needing the Queen's order.
One could say that in the Luohe Principality she stood below one, above ten thousand!
This was a solid, substantial reward.
The rest of the honors were basically passed over in a stroke, or handed straight to the departments below to grant themselves.
……
At this moment, in an empty stretch of space beyond the skies of the capital planet, the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship hovered.
Zhao Chen sat in the captain's chair with a chicken leg in his hand, watching the Luohe Principality's broadcast of the scene.
"Leng Qian and Leng Yun really are capable. A week ahead of the month they promised, they've finished reunifying and recovering the Luohe Star Region." Zhao Chen looked at Lilith beside him, who was enjoying good food too.
Lilith said, "Both of them have worked very fast this while, one civil and one military, working on two fronts at once. On this side, General Leng Qian, leading the legion fleets with our support, after that great decisive battle split her forces four ways and took the four families' lairs outright. The rest of the four great families' remnants were easy to deal with. A good many of the four great families' people did flee the Luohe Star Region in the meantime, but none of it matters. And at the same time, Queen Leng Yun wasn't idle either; she put out word that the noble powers under the four family powers' rule could all choose to come over to the Luohe Principality now. For what they had done before, unless it was very serious, the Luohe royal house would pursue it no further, and some who did well would even be given important posts once the new order was set up. That made a good many family powers go straight over to the Luohe royal house, and these family powers played a crucial part afterward in clearing up and calming the Luohe Star Region too. So the Luohe Star Region now, though it has only just fought a war, hasn't fallen into great chaos. By our judgment, in a month at most the Luohe Star Region can be back to its prewar level. That's not counting the special development zone we've set up for the Luohe Principality, of course."
Zhao Chen nodded with satisfaction. "It seems the proxies we chose this time are very good. How is the building going in the special development zone?"
Lilith brought up some video footage.
Great numbers of industrial facilities could be seen under construction:
star gates, star ports, industrial plants and the like,
a scene of work going on at full blaze.
Besides that, there were several signed agreements and contracts.
The two parties to them were the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire and the Luohe Principality.
"We've signed a great many of the related agreements, all called by one name: the Owl Dragon Aid for the Building of Luohe projects. Besides technical support, there's financial support too. Of course, these funds all carry interest, and will be repaid in future in all kinds of equivalent forms. The projects invested in and built are basically the ones we agreed. And there are the export-model Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships we're supplying them! The first phase of building is expected to take two months; by then the Luohe Principality will have its own military-industrial system, and can build interstellar warships of T5 and below itself. Of course, for every one built, it pays us the related technology license fee. And the core modules of T5-grade interstellar warships must be bought from our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire. The production time those core modules need is under 1% of the whole interstellar warship's, but their importance is over half of the whole interstellar warship's! Arranged like this, even if the Luohe Principality grows strong in future, it can't escape our control," Lilith said.
The corners of Zhao Chen's mouth turned up slightly; this was just what he had had in mind.