"Marshal Chu, I grant you the supreme authority; all military forces are to accept your dispatch. Any who resist may be regarded as rebel ministers and traitorous subjects — as disloyal to the empire's royal house!" Qin Xiaolei said in righteous, ringing terms.
"Yes!" Chu Changhe made a military salute, then laid his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist — an ancient sword.
Chu Changhe had all along had the habit of wearing an ancient sword on formal occasions.
He drew the ancient sword with one motion, and leveled it forward and upward at a 45-degree angle.
Then he cried out sternly: "The Chu clan is willing to be the sword in the little Princess's hand!"
Chu Changhe's picture cut off abruptly at this point.
But this brief stretch of footage had already begun spreading through the whole of the Starlight Empire, which set all the empire's power-holders and nobles shaking.
They'd reckoned Chu Changhe would set himself against the Prince Faction.
But never had they reckoned that Chu Changhe would, of all things, hold in his hand the banner that was the little Princess.
In this way, the position Chu Changhe stood in became a most delicate one.
Before this, whether or not Qin Ming was framing and slandering, it had at least been a struggle between sovereign and subject, and Qin Ming had occupied the advantageous position.
But now, Chu Changhe's side had the banner of the little Princess.
And so the two sides became, wholly, an even-standing confrontation.
You, Qin Ming, are of the bloodline; the little Princess Qin Xiaolei is likewise of royal blood.
As for that matter of bloodline you spoke of — a clever man, of course, wouldn't care about it.
After all, without conclusive proof, one surely can't take a thing as nailed-fast-to-the-board merely on your one-sided accusation.
And at this point, the interstellar media broadcasting each of the imperial legion fleets discovered that some small robots had appeared on the exteriors of those imperial-army interstellar warships' hulls.
These robots crawled to the position of the interstellar warships' hull crest.
The crest of the imperial fleets was the Starlight Empire's Starlight Seven-Star crest — a crest all the imperial fleets adopted, one and all.
The color of all seven star-points was blue, representing the seven imperial star regions apart from the Starlight Central Star Region.
And at this point, those robots were, of all things, spraying red onto the seven star-points.
Though it was only a change of color, for some reason it was for all the world as though the whole legion fleet had taken on a wholly new face.
From this day on, this crest would also come to be called the 'Blood-Red Seven Stars.'
What came next was a series of routine military maneuvers; this stretch had nothing out of the ordinary about it.
Purple Perilla Star Region · the Su family residence
"That move of Chu Changhe's — masterly," Old Governor Su said mildly.
The eldest son of the Su family, at his side, inquired with great caution, "Father, then what are we to do next? The Prince Faction's side has already begun demanding we send troops in support — to join with them in fighting the Chu family, to quell the rebellion!"
Old Governor Su fell silent a moment, then said, "Looked at from the broad view, Chu Changhe may be strong, but he'd find it very hard to beat the Prince Faction, which has the deep foundation of a whole state behind it. What's more, the position Chu Changhe stands in is too dangerous. And yet, to lay our bets on the Prince Faction right now is too early. A clever man will wait until the true victor appears before he takes a firm stand. As for the Prince Faction's side… we can't lose them face, either. Let's do this: whether direct line or collateral branch, none of the Su family's lord's fleets is permitted to leave the Purple Perilla Star Region. As for… the rest… that's beyond our managing. After all, I'm no more than a mere governor."
At these words of Old Governor Su's, the eldest son of the Su family understood at once.
"Your child understands."
Afterward, on the Purple Perilla Star Region's side, not a single one of the Su family faction's interstellar warships stirred; but some families within the Purple Perilla Star Region who leaned toward the Prince Faction were most willing to dispatch their own private fleets, or to help the Prince Faction by such means as funding strategic materials.
At the same time, of the five imperial legions originally garrisoning the Purple Perilla Star Region, three — close to 10,000 interstellar warships — were all requisitioned away by the Prince Faction.
This sort of situation appeared in other star regions too.
The Prince Faction was, at the swiftest possible speed, massing its fleet-groups.
As for Chu Changhe's existence, Qin Ming was bound to want it settled quickly, so as to consolidate his own regime and imperial throne.
At the same time, it was also to defend against the offensive the Chu family legion fleet might mount.
Imperial Capital star cluster · Imperial Capital Star
Qin Ming was, in this moment, within the Empire's largest strategy conference room, looking at the interstellar map of the Starlight Empire before him, on which the positions of each interstellar legion fleet were clearly marked.
Even the movements of some of the interstellar legion fleets of the Chu River Star Region and the North Wind Star Region could be seen upon it.
"Your Highness, up to now — counting in the interstellar legion fleets supplied by the various powers — the number of interstellar warships we hold in our control has already broken past 300,000 interstellar warships. And this number is still rising without cease!" Huang Zhixiong said, looking at Qin Ming in excitement.
"On Chu Changhe's side, they've at present only 60,000 interstellar warships. On the North Wind Star Region's side, they can scrape together at most 20,000 interstellar warships. Our count of interstellar warships is four times theirs! Even if the Chu family's border fleet-group is stronger still, holding off their attack is no problem at all — I'd even say there's simply no need for us to drag it out half a year. We can go straight for a grand decisive battle with the Chu family legion!" Huang Zhixiong said, full of confidence, for all the world as though he himself could beat that Chu Changhe on a head-on battlefield and become the Starlight Empire's newest-generation legend.
Qin Ming shot Huang Zhixiong a glance.
"Don't, in the face of a numerical advantage, grow the least bit careless. Don't forget — we've taken a loss several times over now in just such numerically advantaged battles. That Zhao Chen of the Owl Dragon star system has too many hole cards stashed away; we must be careful."
Huang Zhixiong naturally knew what Qin Ming was hinting at.
In the Owl Dragon star system battle of the Third Prince's fleet, 20,000 interstellar warships had been wholly annihilated by 3,000 interstellar warships — that was no fourfold advantage, but a numerical advantage of upward of sixfold.
And the result?
And then there was the thing that had just happened — the Owl Dragon Legion rescuing Chu Changhe, hemmed in and pursued by tens of thousands of interstellar warships, and in the end the result?
It amounted to slap after slap landing on Qin Ming's face.
And Zhao Chen had, besides, in hand a mysterious starship possessed of an interstellar-jump capability.
"Your Highness, an interstellar fleet of this high quality has its chance of winning-the-many-with-the-few only in this sort of small-scale interstellar battle. In a grand battle of hundreds of thousands of interstellar warships, throw the Owl Dragon Legion in and it's no more than a single stone tossed into the sea," Huang Zhixiong said with confidence.
"Uncle, every step we take now must be careful and prudent. We can't afford to lose." Qin Ming, looking at the somewhat overconfident Huang Zhixiong, let his face sink.
Huang Zhixiong at once lowered his head.
"This general… understands. Then… what are we to do next?"
"Wait a week first. If within a week Chu Changhe doesn't attack of his own accord, then we'll open the battlefield ourselves. The guiding principle of the campaign is still the old one — to consume their war-readiness resources above all. When necessary, we can give up some star systems. So long as we wait out the half-year, and Chu Changhe's strategic resources are spent to the dregs, then that's when we launch the general assault," Qin Ming said with a cold laugh.
"Yes."
The royal civil war of the Starlight Empire — from this point, its curtain was drawn open.