In no time at all, Zhao Chen received a comm request.
Truly, speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives.[1]
Governor Chu of Chu River.
Zhao Chen let it through.
The moment Governor Chu of Chu River opened the video window, he sized Zhao Chen up and down. "In one year's time, from viscount promoted straight across the ranks to marquis. This is exceedingly rarely seen even in all the history of the Starlight Empire. Not bad at all, kid."
"Governor of Chu River, you praise me too highly," Zhao Chen said courteously.
"Don't go putting on all this empty, fluff-headed business with me; this is something you've won by your own true ability — what the devil are you being modest for." Before Zhao Chen, Governor Chu of Chu River had none of a governor's airs whatsoever; on the contrary, he was rather like some wealthy old country squire.
"How is it you've come here?" Zhao Chen asked the doubt in his heart.
Governor Chu of Chu River gave a twist of his lips. "It's none other than that someone couldn't hold back from wanting to move against this golden signboard of the Chu family's."
To move against the Chu family!
Zhao Chen was shocked within. The Chu family was, after all, the Starlight Empire's greatest family, possessing besides — apart from the royal-house legion fleet — the strongest legion fleet, the Chu family's! All along, the Mechanical Race's invasions had been held off by the Chu family guarding the Chu River Star Region, and it was thus that the Starlight Empire's other star regions had been able to flourish and thrive.
Governor Chu of Chu River looked at Zhao Chen. "Let me put you to the test — what's your view on this matter of the Chu family?"
Zhao Chen hesitated.
"Don't be all dithering and womanish; right now this is an encrypted comm between the two of us — apart from you and me, not another soul knows. Speak your mind freely." Governor Chu of Chu River urged impatiently.
"The cause of all this is, entirely, the Mechanical Race's withdrawal. Originally, the Mechanical Race counterbalanced the Chu family's existence; and now, without the Mechanical Race's threat, the Chu family's balance-scale has, of course, tipped out of equilibrium. And at the same time, those masterless star systems beyond the Chu River Star Region are a tempting bait. But those masterless systems are comparatively near the Chu River Star Region; even should you be willing to hand those masterless systems over to the empire's high nobles to hold, your Chu River Star Region would be the equal of a guillotine-blade pinched against their very necks. The moment you were displeased, they'd come to grief. And so, now the Chu family of the Chu River Star Region has, on the contrary, become a thorn in the eye of the empire's upper echelons! And, as it happened, the First Prince died on his distant campaign beyond the Chu River Star Region. This is as good as handing those empire high-ups a chance to move against the Chu family!" Zhao Chen analyzed.
"A pack of stupid fellows." Governor Chu of Chu River gave a cold snort. "Wanting to slay the donkey once the milling is done — do they not use their heads even a little? To move against my Chu family at a time like this — isn't that letting the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth and the Holy Radiance Empire sit and reap the fisherman's profit? Though on the surface everyone's still the Galactic Alliance for now, with so vast a pie laid out before the three great empires just now, this alliance may collapse at any moment. And there's one matter I've been worrying over all along: could all this be a conspiracy of the Mechanical Race's?"
"A conspiracy? You mean that the Mechanical Race deliberately withdrew, tossing the Galactic Alliance so vast a pie, to make the Galactic Alliance slaughter one another — and then the Mechanical Race makes its comeback?" Zhao Chen thought a moment. "This is indeed a fine scheme, but there's a certain risk in it too. Should the Galactic Alliance, on this issue, transition peacefully and digest those masterless systems, then that would, beyond doubt, increase the Galactic Alliance's combat power. And then the Mechanical Race would have lifted a stone only to drop it on its own foot!"
"Not bad — you even thought of the two-sidedness of it." Governor Chu of Chu River laughed. "Then what do you reckon the empire has recalled me for?"
"To place you under house arrest? A cup of wine to release you of your military power?" Zhao Chen said.[2]
"Hahahaha. House arrest is a possibility. A cup of wine to release me of my military power? Dream on. The Chu family legion fleet I forged single-handedly; they recognize only my golden signboard. Indeed, even several imperial legions within the border imperial army are people I cultivated and propped up. Even without the military authority granted by the empire — so long as I, Chu Changhe, raise my arm and give the call, I can directly mobilize at the least 20 interstellar legion fleets, and even more!" Governor Chu of Chu River said proudly.
"But for that pack of empire folk, a long pain is worse than a short one. To them, you are a malignant tumor upon the map of their interests. The single most important matter now is this: is this summoning of you the Starlight Emperor's intent, or is it the intent of the ministers below? The former… that's the worst case. The latter… there's still room to maneuver. This summons is, too, a probe: if you defy and disobey the command, then it's you, Governor Chu of Chu River, who betrayed the Starlight Empire first — which will surely affect your prestige, and the empire side can conveniently, riding the momentum, clean you away. And if you accept the summons, then I'd estimate that, when the time comes, they'll keep you in the Capital Star on some pretext or other. This way, the empire will have grasped the initiative; they can use you to coerce the Chu River Star Region's interstellar fleet, and, when necessary, can even force them to rebel!" Zhao Chen said, pondering it through.
Governor Chu of Chu River looked at Zhao Chen with a note of praise. "You're a good deal smarter than that granddaughter of mine. Though that granddaughter of mine is clever and quick-witted, born of a natural beauty, fair without and wise within…"
Zhao Chen was helpless within — I know you dote on this granddaughter of yours, but there's surely no need to go on praising her without end even at a time like this.
Governor Chu of Chu River went on. "But that granddaughter of mine is simply too naive; there are some matters that aren't so simple as she thinks." When he brought up his own granddaughter, Governor Chu of Chu River's gaze was filled with a kindly tenderness.
Thereupon, Governor Chu of Chu River fixed his eyes upon Zhao Chen. "Zhao Chen, can I trust you?"
"For you to ask this so suddenly, I don't quite know how to answer either…" Zhao Chen scratched his head in awkwardness.
"My granddaughter trusts you greatly, and so I, too, trust you. I entrust to you here one matter: if… if one day the Chu family should meet with disaster — I ask only that you can take Chu Xuan and live on!" Governor Chu of Chu River's tone was heavy. At this moment, he was no longer a star-region governor, a five-star marshal. He was only a grandfather fretting over his own granddaughter. And this seemed, moreover, to be already the second time Governor Chu of Chu River had brought this matter up to him.
"Is it this serious?" Zhao Chen asked.
Governor Chu of Chu River lifted his head, as though gazing toward the starry sky beyond the bridge. "Right now we're all situated within a great game of chess — even I cannot see through how the next move will go. Before I came, my subordinates even advised me to rebel."
Zhao Chen's heart gave a jolt; that Governor Chu of Chu River dared speak such words even before his very face.
Governor Chu of Chu River shook his head. "But I know clearly: if the Chu family legion fleet truly did rebel, then there'd be but one result. Defeat! Though the Chu family legion fleet is strong, though I have prestige within the border imperial army — yet one must know, war is by no means a matter of looking at your interstellar-fleet numbers on paper alone. Logistics and supply, strategic materials, and so on — these are all enormous problems. All along, of these things the border imperial army needs, half have come from imperial supply. Leaning on the single stretch of turf that is the Chu River Star Region, one simply cannot feed so vast an interstellar legion fleet. Though these years my Chu family has, too, some reserve resources, at the very most it could sustain the fleet under my command in fighting less than half a year of regular campaigns. And in that half year's time, the empire side need only wait us out. Once our 'strategic resources' are exhausted and spent, then however strong our interstellar warships, they'll be no more than lumps of scrap copper and rotten iron."