Deng Zhengqing's words suddenly sounded a little too cruel, but on closer thought, they weren't entirely unreasonable.
As mentioned earlier, it was a tradition among the Empire's great nobles to recruit people from prisoner-of-war camps. There had indeed been no shortage of inspiring stories in the Empire's history about prisoners of war who had climbed their way to the top.
That being so, who could guarantee that all the tens of thousands of prisoners of war at Iron Shackles Top were steadfast patriots? Surely many of them were waiting for some important figure to extend an olive branch.
Considering the Empire's long rule over Earth and the countless ties between the two sides, then factoring in how quickly the Commonwealth's home territory had fallen, it was easy to imagine that such people were hardly rare.
Some might even feel that they had already done their duty as soldiers, shedding blood and risking their lives at the Ring of Miracles, and had repaid the Commonwealth as a political entity in full. It was time to start making plans for their own futures.
Yu Lian fell silent for a moment.
Just then, Lieutenant Hines reported that the Sobek fleet had split up. A fast-strike fleet consisting of ten battlecruisers, one dragonship, and several carriers and heavy cruisers had veered off its original course and was also heading for Iron Shackles Top.
"At their current speed, they'll arrive fifty to sixty hours later than I will."
Well, well. That little Sobek had really found his spine, huh? Yu Lian raised an eyebrow. This was definitely not the Sobek he knew, and he couldn't help feeling intrigued.
"This enemy force is nothing to worry about! Just give the order, and we'll defeat them! You won't even need to lift a finger, Commander. You can