The Empire's Grief

"How dare they!"

In the Ruler's Hall, Gefra Emperor kicked over the lampstand next to the Imperial Throne. The pure gold lampstand rolled down the steps, and people scrambled to avoid it.

His expression was extremely ferocious and twisted at this moment. The First Fleet was almost completely wiped out, and this did not happen during the war. When he first heard the news, he thought that someone was joking with him.

But once he confirmed the truth of the matter, he fell into a state of mania.

What angered him was not the annihilation of the entire fleet, but their defeat.

If the invincible fleet were to lose, those nations that had long been suppressed by Gefra would begin to make moves, and Gefra's international standing would be under unprecedented and enormous threat.

Previously, Gefra had secured many diplomatic collaborations with their invincible fleet... no, these weren't diplomatic collaborations, but rather a form of coercion through force.

Now all of this has been destroyed because of the Federal. The Federal has proven that they have found a way to limit the Invincible Fleet, and Gefra has lost the initiative.

Once those Family Head unite around the Federal and form a new international interest group with the Federal at its core, they will be qualified to challenge Gefra's global status.

Gefra is not a vast country; it is merely an isolated island with limited inland resources and insufficient strategic depth. Once Gefra loses all its overseas interests, its war potential will be compressed to its limit in an instant.

The purpose of Gefra's frenzied attacks in this World War was not because it had irreconcilable hatred with those countries; they simply wanted to find a way to solve their domestic problems.

Territorial expansion may be the best solution, and they are trying to acquire more territory through non-overly stimulating concessions rather than blatant encroachment.

That would only create irreconcilable hatred, and the resistance from the lower classes would be even stronger, which is not in line with their current interests.

But now, all of this has lost its foundation with the destruction of the First Fleet. Gefra Emperor can already imagine that those ugly little insects will soon send diplomatic notes requesting assistance.

"Send the Second and Third Fleet to besiege the Federal fleet and bombard their homeland!" Emperor of Gefra roared, pacing back and forth on the steps of his Imperial Throne. "Go to their homeland and make them repent for their foolish deeds in the flames of war!"

Apart from Gefra Emperor's voice, there was no other sound in the hall, and no one answered.

Only after his emotions had calmed down a bit did the Defense Minister step forward and say, "Your Majesty, we do not have the capability to wage a protracted war against the Bayer People until we can resolve their new torpedoes."

"Secondly, if you decide to start this war, then Gefra will inevitably be burned to ashes, for they have already obtained the dragon-slaying sword."

The Defense Minister bowed. "I apologize for describing us as the dragon and the Federal as the dragon-slaying heroes, but that is the current international situation."

"The tough stance we took against the outside world will now become an evil inflicted upon us. What we need most now is not to retaliate against the Federal, but to secure our remaining interests and our international standing!"

"Compared to retaliating against the Federal, the stability of the Amelia Province is what we really need to focus on!"

The Defense Minister looked grim but also very serious. He said that it was pointless and meaningless to investigate the matter now or to launch retaliatory military action.

It is even possible that retaliatory military action could cause further losses to the Gefra Navy, making them look even worse and losing their last remaining strength.

Therefore, in the Defense Minister's view, the issues with the Federal should be left to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who can work through diplomacy to reverse the disadvantage.

Their real focus, however, is on suppressing the unrest in the Amelia Province. As long as the Amelia Province remains stable, they can continue to access the region's abundant resources, thus building up sufficient strength and foundation for the next war.

Gefra Emperor picked up a water glass and threw it at the Defense Minister. Although the glass was also made of gold, the Defense Minister did not dodge.

Avoiding the emperor's wrath at this moment would only further enrage him. He took a blow from the cup, which hit his calf. He immediately gasped, but it also gradually calmed the emperor down.

"Our losses this time were entirely due to serious delays in some intelligence, Army Minister ..." The Army Minister stepped forward with his head down, "I will not punish you, but will instead give you more funding. I have only one request."

"From today onwards, I want you to send the Empire's best intelligence personnel to the Federal. I need to know everything about them—their military capabilities, technological advancements... all the cutting-edge information!"

The Army Minister bowed. "As you wish, Your Majesty."

Gefra Emperor nodded. "Also, notify all shipyards that, except for the construction of the three battleships, the rest of the production plans should be disposed of as soon as possible. Isn't there someone who wants to buy our ships?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" someone answered affirmatively.

"Then let them pay for it, and we'll continue building for them, or we can give them the unfinished projects we have on hand..."

Their current construction plans are based on their understanding of military technology prior to this naval battle. Now, it has become clear that these warships pose significant hidden dangers, making further construction pointless.

Of course, battleships are different. Battleships have sufficient carrying capacity, so most battleships have extended mounting slots. They can be slightly modified to add sub-waterline protection to prevent torpedo attacks.

But the other warships weren't suitable, so we decided to just sell them.

Having regained his composure, Gefra Emperor began to demonstrate his outstanding political abilities, arranging affairs in an orderly manner, with the Defense Minister and the Prime Minister also sharing some of the mental work with him.

Finally, Gefra Emperor paused for a moment, "... I forgot to ask this all along, why are we suddenly going to have to fight a naval war with the Federal?"

The Navy Minister remained silent, but all eyes were on him.

The system in Gefra is quite different from that of the Federal. There is no public election system here, and officials are selected from two sources.

The first is the nomination and voting system, which involves the former president making a number of nominations when he leaves office, and then a vote is taken within a small group.

This system of appointments mostly occurred in the lower and middle levels of the Gefra government, and the main factor in determining whether a nominee could succeed was whether the successor belonged to a certain faction. Factional issues were particularly serious in the Gefra system.

The second method applies to middle and upper levels, namely the imperial appointment system. The emperor can directly appoint an official, even if the official has never done the work required before, as long as the emperor trusts him.

The former is too far removed from the top rulers, but the latter happens right in the palace. Once a person gains the emperor's absolute trust, he is very likely to remain in that position for life.

People will inevitably have friends in this world, but they will also have enemies. When the emperor asked about this matter, those who usually did not get along with the Navy Minister turned their attention to him.

Gefra Emperor keenly sensed all of this, but he pretended not to notice. "No one's going to speak?" he asked, his gaze sweeping over the assembled ministers, who all bowed their heads in submission. "I'll find out..."

He paused for a moment, then changed the subject, saying, "... What's the next thing we're going to discuss?"

At lunchtime, he summoned officials from the Special Supervision Department and said, "Investigate why the Navy Minister encouraged us to fight this naval war with the Federal..."

Meanwhile, the Navy Minister, who had rushed back to his residence, went to the basement, opened a safe, and found a telephone number known only to him. The line originated outside his residence, and no one would know that he was actually using the number.

He dialed a very special number, and after a few seconds, whispered, "Get rid of Preton as soon as possible, or we'll all be in danger..."

"Also, I need to get the data on the Federal submarines and the new torpedoes as soon as possible. Only then can I get through this crisis!"

If he could obtain the parameters of submarines and new torpedoes, the Imperial Research Institute would have the potential to reverse-engineer them, which would be a huge achievement.

The person on the phone sounded a little strange, "You must have been in a hurry, so you didn't have time to watch TV..."

The Navy Minister immediately hung up the phone and turned on the television. The news was playing, and the news anchor briefly recounted the naval battle that had taken place, while also mentioning what the Navy Minister wanted.

Data on submarines, and data on new torpedoes...

No one could have imagined that the Federal would actually list all this data, which drove all the countries in the world into a kind of madness, as they all wanted to use this data to deduce the results in reverse.

Even if they cannot directly replicate the submarines and new torpedoes that determined the outcome of this naval battle, it will still allow them to make great progress in their research in related fields! The Federal is so arrogant. The Royal Navy, which just defeated Gefra, dares to release data in such a high-profile manner. Aren't they afraid at all?

They are certainly not afraid, because these data are, in a sense, true.

In other words, at this stage, these data are too advanced.

It's like trying to make someone run before they've even learned to walk; they'll only keep falling down and won't be able to do anything else.

But military technology research is not as simple as running, and failure is not as easy as just falling down. Every failure means that a lot of resources are wasted, and that they are going further and further down the wrong path!