Bai Zhongqi's whirlwind operation caused a huge uproar on Earth.
C country, already engrossed in stabbing the United States in the back, now joyfully spread the news around the world: "Alien beings kidnapped Arica's nuclear submarines," "Alien beings took away Arica's stealth bombers," "Alien beings have turned Arica's nuclear submarines and stealth bombers into a spectacle in Jing—the aliens couldn't stand how bad Arica is." In short, official dia had their way of speaking, and other dia had theirs.
Plus, with the self-dia in C country which had beco quite influential, various true and false news flew everywhere all at once.
Of course, so rumors were still controlled. The purpose of the propaganda offensive launched by C country was to let the aliens know they weren't on the sa side as the United States. The situation had beco convoluted and perplexing. A student from C country had built a connection with the aliens, and then his girlfriend was kidnapped by the CIA.
The aliens promptly deployed a rescue, and even delivered a "testimony of friendship" to the Aricans, inscribed in Chinese. This understandably led to much fanciful speculation among many people in the country.
Although Bai Zhongqi's existence and identity had not been leaked, the official speculations about the relationship between Bai Zhongqi and the aliens had already produced no fewer than dozens of versions.
As for Bai Zhongqi's parents in C country, aside from carefully watching, they didn't dare to take any substantial action, fearing they might repeat the mistakes of the Aricans, which would indeed be quite a painful smack to their own face.
C country believed that for the aliens to go to such lengths for Bai Zhongqi, it at least showed that Bai Zhongqi held so significant connection to the aliens. To prevent the Earth from being destroyed by the aliens, it seed likely that the breakthrough would have to focus on this mysterious Bai Zhongqi.
While the people of Earth thought it a massive fuss, the Iridium Star people hardly considered it to be anything of significance. What was forrly the fleet's leadership council had now been renad by Bai Zhongqi to the Temporary Executive Committee of the United Empire, and its mbers were extrely excited about the promotion of their official titles by who knows how many ranks.
The committee mbers believed the Chancellor's whirlwind operation was more than rciful.
Indeed, without using any major weapons of the Universe Army, a total of 31 Orbital Paratroopers, 120 Bionic Infantry, and two squadrons of Aviation soldiers were dispatched. There were also twenty-three engineering ships that hardly counted as ard units. It was less of a military retaliation from the Chancellor and more of a an-spirited prank.
The casualties suffered by Arican soldiers in the whirlwind operation were even less than the civilian casualties caused by the two F-22s that crashed during the battle over San Francisco. The newly promoted, and therefore much more responsible, committee mbers felt that using a planetary bombardnt weapon to level the United States would have been an acceptable option.
Du Peng, who had been designated by Bai Zhongqi as the Temporary Imperial Pri Minister, was shaken despite his usual unflappable deanor, when the imposing title was bestowed upon him. Prior to his ti travel, Du Peng had indulged in fantasies of becoming the pri minister of this vast country.
However, with no particularly distinguished background nor affiliation to any political group, he had extinguished such impractical thoughts once he entered the political arena. Unexpectedly, after ti traveling, he beca the Imperial Pri Minister—albeit with "temporary" in the title—but a pri minister nonetheless.
It may just seem like a change in title, but for many committee mbers including Du Peng, it was an exhilarating boost. Displaying an even more diligent attitude than before, it was clear that serving this Imperial Chancellor well at this ti ant even greater power and a more illustrious personal career.
Bai Zhongqi's residence had been shifted from the Sacred Falcon to the Ruyi City Colonial Base Ship. If the Sacred Falcon Class Battlecruiser was a massive object humans could still comprehend, then the Ruyi City was beyond the imagination of ordinary Earth people.
This colossal non-military vessel was essentially a mobile space city, with an ecological area ant solely for immigrant living reaching 106 square kiloters. To put it in perspective, Asia's gambling capital covered only 32.8 square kiloters, Hong Kong Island was 78.4 square kiloters, and the area of a typical district in a city of C country was roughly this size.
The vast ecological circle of Ruyi City was divided into upper, middle, and lower levels, aning the inhabitable area was over three hundred square kiloters, which was quite substantial.
At present, the permanent residents on Ruyi City numbered only about three thousand, concentrated in an area on the second level, a large part being family mbers of the fleet's officers and soldiers, as well as families who had immigrated together. Ruyi City also possessed various civilian facilities, including comrcial services, schools, entertainnt anities, and more.
A lot of land on Ruyi City was still unplanned and undeveloped, reserved for future needs. After Bai Zhongqi's arrival, he began constructing his "palace" on Ruyi City as his official residence. This wasn't even his own proposal but a suggestion from the temporary governnt.
His office was temporarily set up in the old building where Du Peng handled fleet immigration business, which was indeed preferable to the setup on the Sacred Falcon.
Du Peng, as the Pri Minister directly responsible to the Imperial Chancellor, was currently eting with Bai Zhongqi to discuss the national policies of the United Empire. Du Peng said, "Chancellor, at the previous imperial conference, you suggested we attract Earth's human resources to serve our Iridium Star through gentle ans. I believe it's a wise move.
At present, including military personnel from the fleet, the registered population of our Iridium Star doesn't exceed five thousand. It's not enough for a single planet, let alone support Ruyi City. A great nation must have a large population. Earth boasts a population of seven and a half billion, which is rare in the universe, and naturally it can provide the Empire with ample population support.
However, if we seek the easiest route, the Empire could completely subdue Earth's nations by force, then open up immigration channels. Earthlings would surely be willing to beco citizens of the Empire en masse. Yet Your Majesty wishes to use a cooperative approach. I do not understand how exactly it should be implented, or what benefits it could bring."
This was not a challenge posed by Du Peng, but simply a request for more clarification from Bai Zhongqi on the policy, so he could work accordingly.
Bai Zhongqi thought to himself that it was indeed inevitable for people to have such suspicions. At the mont, he actually served as a double agent, on one side a traitor to the Sphere, and on the other a traitor to Iridium.
From the Iridium Star people's standpoint, he needed to utilize Earth's manpower and resources to help expand the now only 5,000-population United Iridium Empire, so it could truly develop into a powerful interstellar nation in this universe; from the Earthlings' standpoint, Bai Zhongqi didn't want Earthlings to beco second-class citizens in the cosmos.
He hoped to usher his fellow humans, especially his Chinese brethren, into the journey across the vast sea of stars using Iridium's advanced technology, and he dearly wished to see his people lead the way in the Age of the Starry Seas and achieve better developnt.
This stance of his ant that he couldn't act as Du Peng had said, casually causing a bit of chaos on Earth, making life unrestful for Earthlings, so that they would join the United Iridium Empire for safety or a higher status. If he did that, the Empire would indeed gain population, but Earth would be thrown into disarray.
But at the sa ti, he couldn't underestimate the Iridium Star people too much. Even if Iridium Star only had a population of 5,000, they were still a dominant civilization that had flourished in the galaxy for five thousand years, not only possessing significant technological achievents but also taking pride in their culture.
Bai Zhongqi believed that equality could only exist between two parties of comparable strength. In any environnt, there is no equality when there is a great disparity in power. Lions and hyenas are both predators, but they are not equal. The sa applies to Iridium Star and the various nations on Earth.
Therefore, Bai Zhongqi was racking his brains to devise a relatively stable frawork of cooperation. Without undermining the peace of Earth, he sought to bolster the United Empire's growth while also achieving a true leap forward for Earth's inhabitants.
He was just a young man with normal values, who had all kinds of wild fantasies and dreams. He wasn't a cruel and heartless Imperial Chancellor who killed without batting an eye, nor was he a saintly figure who sought to benefit the world and loved all humanity.
He did what he thought was necessary, neither causing senseless slaughter and disaster without logic or reason nor vacillating in defense of any ethical or just cause.
His attitude now was simple: exploring the galaxy and even the universe was such an exciting endeavor. It was just too boring to do it alone; he wanted more people to join in. He believed that through the exploration of the galaxy and the reaches beyond the stars, people could truly benefit.
Once his goal was set, any stumbling block on his path of galactic exploration, he would crush without hesitation.
Bai Zhongqi said to Du Peng, "Earth will serve as the launching point for the Empire's campaign into this new galaxy. If it is in chaos, there will be no benefit whatsoever to our future grand ambitions of dominion.
Do you really think, even after being assimilated into the Empire, seeing their holand turned to ruins, the newly naturalized group of Earth-born Imperial citizens would harbor any fond feelings toward the Empire?"
Du Peng nodded in agreent, "Your words are most true, Your Majesty."
Bai Zhongqi continued, "I am planning to establish a political structure that can fully harness Earth's existing manpower and organizational strength. This will allow us, Iridium Star, to assimilate Earth's strength in the shortest possible ti, aiding us to quickly embark on our journey of exploration and developnt.
The Empire will undoubtedly be the core and leading force of this new political structure, with Earth's power always revolving around the Empire, at my disposal."
Du Peng felt as if he understood sothing and praised, "Your Majesty's wisdom is truly incomparable to that of your subjects. If we can really make full use of the existing organizational power of the Earth's nations and gradually incorporate it into the Empire, compared to the pieceal strategy I proposed, Your Majesty's vision is much grander—it is a strategy of swallowing whole."
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