Over thirty warships, each bearing damage, slowly docked at the spaceport orbiting the planet; after securing their anchorages with the spaceport, crew mbers started disembarking one after another.
The square-faced middle-aged military officer saluted a handso but tall young man, saying, "Governor."
The young general returned the salute to the middle-aged man.
"This battle was far from easy," the middle-aged man sighed.
The handso governor's face was tinged with sarcasm as he replied, "When have they ever let us fight an easy battle? They call us in only when they're afraid they can't win or when they need cannon fodder. But every ti, we of the Silver Feather Army manage to turn the tide and achieve victory. Ask any civilization in the entire Sunrise Great Star Zone, and they will tell you that the Zhalan Civilization has none better than the Silver Feather Army when it cos to fighting."
The middle-aged officer shook his head, speaking to the youthful governor of the Silver Feather Army, "Sir, we have prepared a victory banquet on the Holy Star for the soldiers who went on the expedition, please lead everyone to attend."
The young governor looked at the soldiers who were filing down from the warships, one by one, all with a somber expression; no sign of joy from returning ho, nor any grief.
"A triumph? It should be called a morial service. We've lost quite a few comrades again, sacrificed for a bunch of aliens who disdain us, not for our Chancellor."
The middle-aged man exhaled, "At least their efforts and sacrifices have maintained our Silver Feather Army's existence on the Holy Star."
The governor looked out from the spaceport at the blue-purple planet, shining like a gem. He said, "Living under others' roofs, barely scraping by, such existence is not worth ntioning."
He turned to the middle-aged officer, inquiring, "Once our fleet left, those vassal peoples started causing trouble again? Has there been any loss of life?"
"During the incident, over two thousand rebels died or were injured, with no casualties among our troops."
The governor's gaze turned icy as he spoke, "It seems our policies towards them have been too lenient; they've forgotten the terror we of the Silver Feather Army brought to their ancestors when we first arrived on this planet. They've also forgotten that it was the Silver Feather Army that transford them from a group of savages killing each other into mbers of an interstellar civilization."
The middle-aged officer said, "Such is human nature; they easily rember the resentnt towards others but just as easily forget the kindness they've received."
"The Zhalan Civilization played a role in this series of rebellion events, didn't they? These brainless things, on one hand, rely on our military force, on the other hand, they fear us and constantly cause us trouble,"
The middle-aged military officer laughed, "If the Zhalan people weren't checked, they wouldn't be the masters of this Great Star Zone anymore, and our Silver Feather Army would have overthrown them and taken control of everything by now."
Riding the transport spacecraft, Silver Feather Army Governor Qi Xiao and Left Servant Shooter Zhu Xie returned to Holy Star, which was also the Silver Feather Army's base in this universe.
Looking at the slightly grayish atmosphere, Qi Xiao sighed, "More than nine hundred years ago, our ancestors depended on selling their lives to the Zhalans, in exchange for the fief the Zhalans granted us. Yet among all the nobles sealed by the Zhalan Royal Court, the planet we Silver Feather Army were given has the worst conditions. The seawater here is poisonous, inhabited by various dangerous creatures, and it isn't even possible to colonize this place. Our ancestors continued our lineage with female captives taken from other Primate Clans through warfare, renad this planet Holy Star, and hoped that one day, we could return to the Second Universe, eliminate the usurper Xiao Yu, and welco back our Chancellor."
He sighed deeply, "But the Zhalan Royal Court has never relaxed its vigilance against us. Whenever we accumulate a significant military force, they conscript the Silver Feather Army to fight wars. If we resist, just like six hundred years ago, they gather armies from other lords to coerce us. In such an environnt, it becos increasingly difficult for us to grow stronger, and our civilization level hasn't advanced a step in a thousand years. I know that the internal military election chose as the new Governor because they see my youth and vigor and wish to break the dismal atmosphere of the Silver Feather Army. But how many people still truly believe we can achieve our goal?"
Zhu Xie looked at the young Governor bearing great pressure, and said, "None of this is your fault. The Silver Feather Army has paid too much just to survive, yet the very act of surviving has eroded our resolve. These are all inevitable. But at least, through five thousand years, no matter what adversity the Silver Feather Army faces, we have always rembered where we co from and always known whom we serve, even though we are now dependent on others. These have not changed."
Qi Xiao suddenly asked, "Left Servant Shooter, do you think there will co a day when the Chancellor suddenly appears and takes us away?"
Zhu Xie was sowhat stunned, but it was Qi Xiao himself who shook his head and said with a bitter smile, "Such an idea is just too naive."
Although Holy Star can't be described as a place of barren mountains and treacherous waters, it's definitely not a particularly suitable environnt for human beings. All the food production on this planet relies on the farms operated by the Silver Feather Army, and the wild soil of the planet can't grow anything edible for humans.
Holy Star is quite large, more than twice the size of Earth, with a population of 3.8 billion. Almost everyone lives in cities on this planet. The military households of the Silver Feather Army number over forty million, accounting for just over one percent of the total population. All the people on this planet are later immigrants, with the non-military households all being captives of war brought here by the Silver Feather Army over nine hundred years ago, from more than a dozen different civilizations. Although they are all from the Primate Clan, the genetic differences are quite significant. They are now collectively referred to as vassal people. In reality, the modern Silver Feather Army itself is ford through the descendants of the original few thousand Silver Feather Army mbers (most of them male) who fled from the Second Universe, marrying females of the vassal tribes. Through nearly a thousand years of intermarriage and breeding, the physical appearance of the current Silver Feather Army has beco quite different from the original ones.
The military households of the Silver Feather Army hold a social status similar to the samurai and knights of the Feudal Era, with all mid and high-level governnt officials from the Silver Feather Army, and the army composed solely of their descendants. Although the ordinary vassal people enjoy a decent life, they have little political status.
Here, the Silver Feather Army and the vassal people are two distinct existences. Countless vassal won yearn to marry into military households to escape their "lowly status," while nurous vassals secretly despise the Silver Feather Army for holding almost all power resources and believe the Silver Feather Army oppresses and exploits them.
As Governor Qi Xiao arrived in Riding Dragon City, the largest city on Holy Star, to attend the victory banquet, a million vassal protesters crowded the city, displaying banners in the largest public square: Abolish the Silver Feather Army military household system, the power of Holy Star belongs to all its people.
What made Qi Xiao vigilant was that representatives of the Zhalan Civilization stationed on Holy Star also appeared at the rally.
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