Shoigu and Gerasimov

"My elder sister, General Veronica, she's..." Ailiveer scratched her head, looking troubled. "Her personality is rigid and she's quite stubborn. She won't refuse any command you issue."

"General Veronica manages a portion of the sub-light speed ships and logistics. She will still be useful to you."

"Will she really not refuse anything no matter what?" Xi Yan touched his chin.

The Little Secretary of State's cheeks instantly flushed. "This... given her personality, she really would agree..."

"Good, then I'll strive for it!"

Ailiveer wore a thoroughly awkward expression.

"Ahem, second, General Prigozhin."

"He oversees all the Army, posing the greatest threat to us. If a mutiny occurs, his Army can quickly take over the entire Ring World sector."

"The Army, huh... It'll be useless in the future." Xi Yan dismissed it with disdain.

The fleets of the Stellaris world were the only truth; nobody used the Army in the late game.

If he looked at a planet and disliked it, he could just use a Colossus to blow it up or have the fleet perform an Orbital Bombardment.

However, it was still quite useful in the early game, especially before he had completely seized power. What was useless was the Army used for conquering planets later on.

"But this Prigozhin has always been relatively neutral, the kind of fence-sitter you can ignore while you concentrate on dealing with the other generals," Ailiveer added.

Nothing to fear!

"Next, General Ning Zhiyuan, who governs our only three FTL Corvettes. He has a weak personality and didn't participate in the power grab back then. If you are a bit tougher, it's bound to be effective," Ailiveer continued her introduction.

Xi Yan's gaze instantly lit up.

He noticed that people nowadays found it difficult to realize the power of such large FTL Warships, believing they consumed too much and had exorbitant maintenance costs.

In reality, it was not like that. Although the lowest-level Corvette was easily swarmed to death by small Sublight Warships, a Corvette was still a Corvette. No matter how weak, it was the most basic combat unit.

He dismissed small Sublight Warships, but he had to get his hands on the FTL Corvettes!

"What about the other two generals?" Xi Yan asked urgently.

He could already not wait to go and meet this General Ning Zhiyuan.

"Generals Shoigu and Gerasimov," Ailiveer said the two familiar names.

Shoigu! Gerasimov, where is my ammunition?! (Shouted)

"They have already formed a massive military clique, having usurped a huge amount of power back then. Your greatest obstacles come from them."

"Just these two, right? How many FTL Corvettes do they have?" Xi Yan interrupted the Secretary of State.

"None, but they have a full eighty Sublight Warships. Even if we secure General Ning's three Corvettes, we have no way to rival them," Ailiveer said worriedly.

"However, this is the worst-case scenario."

The Little Secretary of State spread her hands and said, "We can compromise with them, trying our best to take back a portion of power through peaceful means and avoid a large-scale civil war breaking out."

Xi Yan's gaze suddenly turned cold.

"Civil war? I wouldn't want anything more."

"I must see what kind of situation this is!"

Ailiveer said helplessly, "At this hour, Generals Shoigu, Gerasimov, and Ning Zhiyuan are generally working together in the Starport. You can go find them to understand the situation-well, for now, they wouldn't dare to openly turn against you."

"Alright, I'm leaving right now."

Xi Yan left without a trace of reluctance, hurrying away.

"Sigh? Hey?" Ailiveer extended her outstretched hand, staring in bewilderment as he strode out of the office without a shred of attachment.

"Beta! Set off to retur-prepare the ship, and go to the Starport."

Xi Yan commanded the air as he walked downstairs.

"Understood, Marshal Xi Yan. Please head directly downstairs; a private spaceship and the Guard have already been arranged for you."

Xi Yan nodded inwardly, stepping into the one-way transparent elevator. His sharp gaze pierced through tens of thousands of meters of high altitude, shooting straight toward the Starport suspended in the distant Firmament.

He adapted to the current situation astonishingly fast, already able to manage the Empire as a qualified marshal. Whether he admitted it or not, playing Stellaris was to thank for this.

Whoever I point to will go play Stellaris immediately!

"The three-year period has arrived... No, wait."

"When you are here, be at peace with it. Betting on the glory of being a Stellaris player, my Empire will never allow the existence of these scum!"

"Shoigu and Gerasimov, right?"

"I'm going to cast my ultimate on you~"()

"What target practice?" Beta sharply retorted.

"Shut up, I'm brewing my emotions!"

"Oh."

The elevator doors slowly opened to both sides, and Xi Yan strode out, his right hand constantly gripping his pistol in his pocket.

How wonderful. Since he had left the old world, the original rules no longer restricted him. Right now, his mood was just like the Emperor sitting on the Golden Throne.

He felt incomparably calm. Right now, no one could stop him in this state.

Ailiveer sent him a document online detailing the crimes of the Shoigu-Gerasimov military clique that she had gathered over these past few days.

Usurping the Marshal's authority, interfering in internal affairs, controlling military power, and committing various illegal acts by their clique-they were utterly arrogant, relying on their control of the majority of the military to completely disregard Xi Yan as Marshal.

It was because they possessed an absolute military advantage; there had even been a past case where sub-light speed small warships blew up a Corvette, so they placed great importance on sub-light speed ships and ignored large FTL Corvettes.

Xi Yan felt incomparably baffled by this. Why couldn a Corvette beat a few sub-light speed small fishing boats?

Could it be a problem with ship allocation?

On another front, the Interstellar Human Military Junta only had three FTL Corvettes to this day!

Where did thirty percent of the military budget go?

They even swallowed the financial budget whole. This was simply intolerable!

The more Xi Yan read, the angrier he became. His blood rushed to his head, and he began to overheat.

"Insects! Simply a group of insects!"

Xi Yan crossed his arms, pacing back and forth outside the entrance of the Administration Building while cursing aloud, "How can a country be well-governed when forced to associate with such insects?!"

Passing staff members were startled, hurriedly avoiding him after offering greetings.

"Don't be angry; just kill them outright," Beta's voice came from the door's voice-control system, comforting the enraged Marshal.

This AI was truly omnipresent. As long as an item was connected to the network, it could hack in.

Xi Yan suddenly halted his steps, asking in astonishment, "Come on, bro, is that something an AI can say?"

"Don't treat me like those low-level, mentally-deficient AIs, okay?!" Beta was very indignant. "This is a conclusion I reached only after synthesizing various data and investigating your human history!"

Xi Yan immediately stopped, leaning against the bulletproof glass wall by the door of the Administration Building with his arms crossed, a trace of interest flashing in his pitch-black eyes.

"Elaborate?"

Beta consequently began to speak eloquently.

"I have observed that all monarchs who founded enterprises invariably advanced great undertakings through military force and straightened the court through might and law. Now, powerful ministers interfere in politics, and thieves stand within the temple halls. The state is in imminent peril."

"This clique of thieves wields heavy power and commands massive troops, relying on their momentum to treat the monarch as nothing. If this continues, the monarch's ancestral state will change its surname, and the imperial vessels will change hands. This is close at hand."

"Therefore, Your Majesty has no way forward or backward. Why not rise up for a single battle, rally dozens of trusted aides, set axe-men beneath your tent, smash a cup as a signal, execute their ringleader, reascend the throne, and reclaim supreme power? Then a bicycle will transform into a giant warship, and the state will turn from danger to safety!"

Upon hearing this, Your Majesty was overjoyed, clapping and laughing, flicking his sleeve and sighing in praise, "What is this beating the target?"

"No, hahahaha, where did you learn this little piece of classical Chinese? You're killing me!"

Xi Yan clutched his stomach and laughed heartily, the bad mood brought on by the insects dissipating quite a bit.

"Still, what you said makes some sense. I'll consider adopting it depending on the situation."

Compared to the open and covert struggles in the political arena, Xi Yan still preferred straightforward problem-solving.

For instance, sending someone over to invite them to catch a brass peanut with their foreheads.

However, they had already formed an intricate and complicated faction, and moving against them rashly would instead trigger chaos, which was very detrimental to the stability of the Empire.

Xi Yan's train of thought was temporarily interrupted because a group of fully armed soldiers trotted toward him in quick steps, the weapons at their waists rattling loudly.