Empire Conquest
Chapter 283 - 279: Shocking Words Till I Die

Chapter 283: Chapter 279: Shocking Words Till I Die

By the break of dawn, the Grand Secretary’s secretary delivered the second telegram.

As expected, the Prime Minister of Bulan had signed the bill to implement the strategic embargo. Although it would only officially take effect after being passed by the vote in the House of Commons, it would be executed as an administration bill beforehand. Since the ruling party held the majority of seats in the House of Commons, the embargo bill would surely pass.

Compared to the secretly agreed upon treaty, it only increased a few types of embargoed goods, with everything else remaining unchanged.

While everyone was reading the telegram, Bai Zhizhan stepped out to give some orders, asking his fiancée to quickly prepare breakfast since everyone was still hungry.

In fact, Zhang Xiaoqing had already thought of it.

A few minutes later, she brought in several bowls of stomach-nourishing eight-treasure porridge.

"Any thoughts? Let’s hear them."

Taking advantage of the time while drinking porridge, Xue Yuanzheng raised the topic.

In this setting, it wasn’t Bai Zhizhan’s turn to speak first.

As expected by Bai Zhizhan, Army General Peng Huaisong, the Army Commander, held a cautiously optimistic stance, whereas the position of the Navy Commander was quite the opposite.

Overall, both generals thought the issue was past and saw no need to dwell on it further.

The embargo was insignificant and could be ignored, so what was there to worry about?

Subsequently, Situ Jingde expressed his opinion.

He leaned towards Peng Huaisong’s view, only more optimistic.

In his eyes, this was a good outcome, and there was no longer a need to worry about the strategic plan being affected.

Implicitly, it meant that it was possible to speed up the process.

Of course, launching a campaign to attack Saiyi’s homeland was not an unacceptable choice, especially when the import of strategic materials, particularly oil, was assured.

Obviously, Situ Jingde flat out wanted to fight a large-scale ground war.

Peng Huaisong felt similarly, his attitude was more conservative, only because he couldn’t compare in status to Situ Jingde, so he did not dare to be absolute in his words before the Holy Emperor and Grand Secretary.

Without attacking Saiyi’s homeland, how would the Army officers and soldiers make their mark and build careers?

"General Bai, what’s your view?"

"Me?"

Bai Zhizhan was visibly stunned, or rather, he didn’t expect the Grand Secretary to ask for his opinion.

He had been listening attentively and had not thought about speaking up.

Of the four military men in the study, the other three were all generals, while Bai Zhizhan was simply a Major General of the Navy.

He was able to sit in the room and listen in part because he had just become the Holy Emperor’s prospective brother-in-law, and also because it was his family’s study—he was the host here.

Strictly speaking, a prospective host.

"Now is the time for pooling wisdom, any ideas can be spoken," said Bai Zhizhan, hesitating as the Holy Emperor walked over from the window.

"Your Majesty!"

"I’m just here as an observer. The Empire is fortunate to have such brave and skilled retainers like all of you!"

It was then that Bai Zhizhan took a moment to closely observe the Emperor.

The Holy Emperor was no longer young; nearing fifty, he could hardly be associated with "youth" and would soon be considered elderly in a few more years.

As for his appearance, that went without saying. Even if the former Emperor had been quite ordinary, the Empress Dowager was definitely a great beauty.

His build was also imposing, clearly indicating that he had experienced military life.

As the saying goes, to "add the finishing touch to the dragon."

Those bright, piercing eyes that seemed capable of seeing even the smallest detail were so sharp they felt as if they could penetrate any disguise, leaving no place for evil spirits to hide.

Moreover, the deathly aura emanating from those eyes was enough to send shivers down the spine of anyone harboring ill intentions.

Those were the eyes of someone who had seen bloodshed, who had slain formidable enemies!

Bai Zhizhan was not intimidated because Lian Xusheng also had such a look in his eyes when he was determined; the same went for the two Army Generals and the Grand Secretary Xue Yuanzheng in the room.

This was the distinctive look of Army personnel.

It was once joked that you could tell whether an Army Officer had participated in the last war just by looking into their eyes.

Clearly, this was no joke.

In contrast, the gaze of Navy personnel tended not to be as fierce.

It’s not that Navy personnel hadn’t witnessed major events, but in Naval warfare, especially in fleet battles, it was basically impossible to engage in close combat with bayonets against the enemy. Not to mention that now the Air Force was dominant, even in the past, when Battleships were paramount, they would bombard each other with Naval guns from over ten kilometers apart.

Zhang Xiaoqing wasn’t speaking nonsense—the Holy Emperor was truly a towering hero on the battlefield.

Only after the Holy Emperor sat down did Xue Yuanzheng nod to Bai Zhizhan, signaling him to hurry up and not dawdle.

Dawn had broken, and everyone wanted to get some rest.

"I think this is not a good thing, at least not something to be happy about." Since he had to speak up, Bai Zhizhan no longer hesitated.

True to tradition, he cut straight to the heart of the matter with his first sentence.

The two Army Generals immediately showed looks of surprise; Bai Zhizhan was not surprised, only Liu Changxun’s evident shock was somewhat puzzling to him.

At first, Liu Changxun expressed conservative pessimism.

To Bai Zhizhan, this was because the assault on the Saiyi homeland had little to do with the Navy, hence Liu Changxun was reluctant to support the plan of the two Army Generals.

Logically, he should have been against the assault on the Saiyi homeland.

If all the resources were monopolized by the Army for the assault on the Saiyi homeland, what role would the Navy play?

Moreover, neither the Holy Emperor nor the Grand Secretary showed any change in their demeanor.

"Why?" Liu Changxun broke the silence.

"The Bulan Kingdom is already on the decline, so we might naturally assume that this so-called strategic embargo was actually the idea of the Newland Federation, with the Bulan Kingdom merely forced to keep in step and therefore of little concern. But if the Bulan Kingdom is so beholden to the Newland Federation, why would they create this measure that is essentially a facade? It’s not to say that the Newland Federation can pressure the Bulan Kingdom to initiate an embargo, yet fail to ensure its enforcement. If that were the case, what would be the point of all the fuss at the beginning?"

Having said his piece, Xue Yuanzheng furrowed his brows in thought.

"So, you mean this has something to do with the Newland Federation?" asked the Holy Emperor.

Bai Zhizhan nodded and replied, "That’s just my speculation, or you could say my concern. After all, by proposing the strategic embargo, the Bulan Kingdom has tied itself to the chariot of the Newland Federation without any other option. Without the Newland Federation’s complicity, why would the Bulan Kingdom enact an embargo that is clearly aimed at us and yet allow it to be ineffective?"

"If it is at the behest of the Newland Federation, what significance does their action have?" asked Xue Yuanzheng this time.

"To make us lower our guard, or to say, to make us discount the impact of the embargo."

"If the embargo is useless, what impact could it possibly have?" Peng Huaisong clearly hadn’t caught on to the point.

"It’s now that we perceive the embargo as having no impact, but who can guarantee that after we attack the Saiyi homeland, the Bulan Kingdom won’t change its stance?"

Peng Huaisong seemed to want to retort, but ultimately held back.

"So what you’re saying is, if we go ahead with the attack as planned, the Newland Federation and the Bulan Kingdom will counteract with a true embargo?" Situ Jingde laughed slightly before saying, "Since it’s an embargo, don’t you think the Newland Federation and the Bulan Kingdom already know that we’ve made preparations? At least from the Newland Federation’s perspective, the current move by the Bulan Kingdom seems pointless."

Without waiting for a response, Bai Zhizhan immediately said after Situ Jingde finished speaking, "What if the embargo was not proposed by the Newland Federation, but by the Bulan Kingdom?"

Upon hearing this, not only was Situ Jingde taken aback, but so were the others.

This guy just couldn’t make a statement without causing a stir!