Empire Conquest
Chapter 67 - 63: Ingenious Tricks

Chapter 67: Chapter 63: Ingenious Tricks

The retirement of Marshal Zhu Shijian, the Imperial Navy Commander of the Liangxia Empire, immediately became the day’s headline news.

Even on a global scale, the influence that Zhu Shijian had on contemporary navies was definitely unmatched, ranking first among his peers.

Even Western military scholars admitted that Zhu Shijian was the foremost naval figure after Fisher.

In fact, he was the only Navy Commander who had served for twenty years after the great war.

In Zhu’s own words, no matter what it is, if you persistently work at it for twenty years, even a fool can become an expert.

Of course, these words are mainly self-deprecating.

In a sense, Zhu Shijian represented an era, that is, the era after the great war when the naval arms race came to a quiet halt.

An era that was relatively peaceful but equally precarious.

Looking back, during the so-called "naval holiday" fifteen years between the years 82 to 96 of the New Calendar, every major incident and every strategic decision made had an impact on the development of the Navy, the future global landscape, and even the direction of human civilization.

However, these impacts would take years, or even decades, to manifest.

Similarly, looking back, during the twenty years Zhu Shijian served as the Imperial Navy Commander, he didn’t make a single misstep. His strategic decisions and personnel appointments were without exception the most ideal, or at least the most correct or preferred choices, practically flawless.

Even at the end, there was no exception.

There were two headline news that day; the other was the new Navy Commander.

It was yet another bombshell.

It wasn’t the expected He Yongxing but Liu Changxun, who had only been appointed as the Southern Fleet Commander three years prior, markedly lacking in both experience and ability!

Strictly speaking, this was the top news story.

Before this, absolutely no one believed that anyone other than He Yongxing could be the next Navy Commander after Zhu Shijian.

Although Zhu Shijian’s relationship with the He Family wasn’t that good, his experiences when he was young, and events that occurred during his tenure as Navy Commander, made the public widely believe that He Yongxing was the successor personally designated by Zhu. Since the Imperial Navy had a tradition of recommending successors, under normal circumstances, He Yongxing would have become the first Navy Commander with the He surname, and it was very likely that he would lead the Navy into the next great war.

As for his ability, there’s nothing much to say.

Let’s not forget that during the last war, He Yongxing had earned the nickname "East Ocean Tiger," recognized as a leader among the Young Turks.

The key point was, after Liu Changhe, no one could compete with him.

Liu Changxun? Too green!

Before becoming the Southern Fleet Commander, Liu Changxun had served successively in the Sunset Ocean local Fleet, the Fan Flame Ocean local Fleet, and the Southern Fleet’s Equipment Department. Though he did have experience commanding fleets in battle and came from a proper naval academic background, having served as a captain on various types of warships and even spending several years training with the submarine forces, honestly speaking, he hadn’t served long enough in any position to have a solid base, and in terms of crucial influence, he was far less than his cousin Liu Changhe.

Not to mention, before becoming the Southern Fleet Commander, many of the rank and file didn’t even know who he was.

In the following three years, Liu Changxun didn’t achieve anything particularly noteworthy.

On a closer look, his greatest accomplishment while in the position of Southern Fleet Commander might have been promoting Liu Xiangzhen and riding the wave of reforms.

Of course, that’s a bit biased because Liu Xiangzhen had already been given significant responsibility before his arrival.

But, that’s not to say that Liu Changxun was utterly useless.

Compared to He Yongxing, Liu Changxun’s most apparent characteristic was actually that he had no distinguishing characteristics, and for that reason, he was very good at taking advice from others in operational tactics.

To put it another way, he was brave in employing people, and he granted them broad authority.

In his own words, since he couldn’t understand it, he wouldn’t bother with it, letting the experts handle it instead. His ignorant meddling would only showcase his own lack of knowledge.

Under his command, Liu Xiangzhen thrived like a fish in water.

Moreover, he didn’t possess the deep-seated biases that Liu Changhe had. For instance, in the three years after he took office, he invited Bai Zhizhan to the Southern Fleet for exchanges twelve times, nearly once every quarter. In the more than a decade before him, Bai Zhizhan had gone to the Southern Fleet for such exchanges fewer than ten times, and almost all of those were merely perfunctory visits. He would say a few words at a reception and then promptly return home.

Regardless, the appointment of Liu Changxun as the Navy Commander was utterly unexpected.

It was this unexpected development that diluted the impact of the third news item of the day.

After the Locke Republic mediated, the Luosha Federation expressed a willingness to negotiate with the Bay Sea Three Countries, with the international community’s participation.

Following this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Liangxia Empire issued a call, offering to facilitate the negotiation.

Affected by this, later that same day, the Foreign Minister of the Luosha Federation officially stated that the final deadline would be postponed until before Christmas.

What did that mean?

The Luosha Federation had accepted the Liangxia Empire’s mediation invitation to negotiate with the Bay Sea Three Countries, but substantial results must be achieved before December 24.

By the evening of that same day, which was midday for the Luosha Federation, the Luosha Army in the border region stood down from combat readiness and retreated to rear camps.

At the same time, at an airport on the outskirts of the Imperial Capital,

He Yongxing took a long breath after watching the plane carrying Bai Zhizhan and the others take off, and then he pulled on his fur coat with force.

The heavy snowfall throughout the day added a few degrees of chill to the Imperial Capital.

"Even now, I still feel like I’m dreaming."

Hearing this, He Yongxing turned his head to look at Liu Changxun, who had walked up behind him.

A few minutes earlier, Liu Changxun had seen off Liu Xiangzhen and the others.

"The Principal told me they wanted me to come, and I thought my ears were playing tricks on me," Liu Changxun said with a wry smile and a sigh. "If we’re being honest, you’d be more suitable."

"I wouldn’t take on this excruciating task of being roasted over the fire," He Yongxing responded.

"What about the two of them?"

He Yongxing was startled for a moment, then looked up at the southern sky. The transport plane had long since vanished in the wind and snow.

The two of them!?

"Is there any point in talking about it now?" He Yongxing exhaled. "The Principal once said, ’If you’ve got what it takes, show it on the battlefield, talking strategy on paper is useless.’"

"You, this person..."

"I’ve held on for twenty years; I’m not going to fall short now. Even if the end is in sight, the show must go on, right?"

"Alright, if that’s how you see it, those jars of fine wine at my place will just have to age a few more years."

With that, Liu Changxun turned and walked away.

"We had an agreement, you drink only if you win, don’t renege on it!" He Yongxing shouted after the retreating figure of Liu Changxun, then chuckled and shook his head.

Everyone knew that Liu Changxun was part of the Liu Family and was Liu Changhe’s cousin, but few people knew that he and He Yongxing had been classmates for five years and bunkmates at that. In the year, actually the month they graduated, Liu Changxun was hospitalized for appendicitis and missed the graduation ceremony. By the time he was discharged from the hospital, everyone else had already moved on to greater heights, and he, as per his family’s arrangement, had headed to the Southern Fleet.

Back then, the Imperial Naval Academy was nowhere near as famous as it is now.

Having Liu Changxun take over was just one move in this grand game of chess, a brilliant one at that.