Extra Four (03)
Gu Chen raised his head and leaned back tiredly, waiting for the inhibitor to take effect. He ordered, "After Li Tingqin leaves the Supervision Department, keep an eye on him and his subordinates, and report all their movements to me."
"Dispatch the Royal Guards around the capital planet in the name of the General Command and be prepared to impose martial law in the entire city at any time."
On the night that the Supervisory Department released Li Tingqin, His Majesty the Emperor held a celebration banquet for this hero in the palace.
The attendant arranged Gu Chen's dinner dress and ironed the expensive embroidered fabric. In the interstellar era with more advanced technology, the nobles pursued more and more retro in food, clothing, housing and transportation. Their clothes were hand-embroidered, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive. Commoners could only wear fully mechanized mass-produced clothes.
Gu Chen came back from get off work at the headquarters, took off his military jacket, tucked his white shirt into his military pants, and the black leather belt outlined his perfect waistline and body proportions. The military boots made him look taller and more capable.
He glanced at the servant who was ironing clothes, raised his hand and said, "No need to prepare."
He took off a coat that was easy to move in and put it on his shoulders. His Majesty's health was getting worse and worse. If a banquet was held at this critical moment, no one could predict what would happen.
"Please come to the palace early tonight. I need to see His Majesty."
Gu Chen had great freedom in entering and leaving the palace. Led by the royal guards, he came to the palace deep inside the palace where His Majesty the Emperor rested.
The current emperor of the empire is already over a hundred years old. No amount of power and wealth can stop the passage of time, and his body has long been weakened by old age.
Gu Chen nodded slightly and said, "Your Majesty."
The old emperor leaned on the bed, looking quite energetic and able to continue handling the affairs of the empire. He turned off the screen and said, "Xiao Chen is here."
The sixteen-year-old little prince was also beside the old emperor at this time and said, "Second Brother Gu."
As one of the most noble families in the empire, the Gu family has close ties with the royal family. Gu Chen's father was once trusted by the old emperor, but after his death, the burden fell on Gu Chen again.
The old emperor smiled and said, "Xiao Chen, I heard that you were the one who protected Li Tingqin this time? He is much more stable than before."
Gu Chen said: "I have made some trade-offs. The Zerg are now making frequent movements. The Empire needs them, and Xiao Ning will also need them in the future."
The ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor and the gradually polarized social status have made the internal contradictions of this empire increasingly prominent; and the constantly restless Zerg and the shrinking living space of humans have also made this empire bear tremendous external pressure.
What does the empire rely on to resist the Zerg invasion? Is it these drunken nobles? No. They can only rely on a solid force like Li Tingqin. This is an external contradiction that must be dealt with.
As for the internal conflicts...he was waiting for Li Tingqin to light the fuse.
The old emperor looked at Gu Chen and suddenly sighed: "Xiao Chen, I still remember when you were studying at the Imperial Military Academy, you always ran to the slums, went to the underground fighting arena to fight black boxing, and went to the black market where people were trafficked to rescue the poor..."
"Your father is very worried. I want to tell you that a gentleman does not stand on a dangerous wall. You will not have any contact with these people in the future. If you want to save them, just give the order."
"You said that they are also part of this country. How can we govern this country without understanding them?"
But the old emperor did not express his admiration when he said this. Instead, he shook his head and said, "Xiao Chen, being a commander is a very cruel job. So, don't be an idealist. You are still young. If you are disappointed with your ideals too early, you will suffer. Be a realist. Maybe you can find some answers in reality."
Gu Chen smiled bitterly. He once thought that the commander's decision was to sacrifice the lives of a few to protect the majority, and he was willing to bear such pain.
But when he held such ideals and awareness and was ready to put them into practice, he discovered that the decisions made by the people around him were often to sacrifice the lives of the majority of civilians to protect the lives of a minority of nobles.
However, he could not allow such a country to fall apart. Under the external pressure of the Zerg's covetous eyes, one chaos would mean a long period of blood and fire.
So everything now is about the choices and trade-offs he makes in this position.
Gu Chen nodded and said, "Your Majesty, thank you for your advice. I will think about it carefully."
He certainly didn't think that the emperor's "realism" was justified. During the decades of his Majesty's reign, he enjoyed himself "realistically", which led to the further widening of the gap between the rich and the poor and the further deterioration of the living environment of the common people.
"Okay." After saying so much, the emperor began to feel tired. He said, "Xiao Chen, take Ning'er to the banquet to meet the officers who have returned from the border. You saved Li Tingqin this time, so it's a good opportunity for Ning'er to get close to them."
"Yes." Gu Chen took the little prince Chu Ning out of the palace and went to the banquet in front.
Chu Ning was the emperor's chosen heir, but he was nearly a hundred years younger than the emperor. It was only because the emperor felt that none of his previous sons satisfied him, so he used modern technology to "give birth" to a new one in his later years.
The Third Prince looked at Gu Chen and Chu Ning coming in again, his expression was a little distorted, but he quickly returned to normal and walked up to Gu Chen to greet him enthusiastically.
The third prince was born naturally by an omega conceived by the emperor, so he is now in his sixties or seventies and his health is not very good.
After Gu Chen responded to him for a few words, he felt that something was wrong with him. He seemed to be in a strange state of excitement.
His informant reported that the revolutionary army would take action in the near future, but what is the third prince so excited about?
After whispering a few words to the secretary, Gu Chen turned his gaze to Li Tingqin along with everyone else.
Although the nobles thought that this 3S-level alpha was lawless in the legend, when they met Li Tingqin in person at the banquet, they found that he was a peaceful and humble person, without any of the arrogance of a poor man who had ascended to a high position.
Of course, even if he was born a low-caste person and still managed to sit in this position, compared with the generations of accumulation of these families, he is still no different from a peasant.
The nobles present generally have tailors at home, and the banquet attire is also tailored by these craftsmen, while the new rich may wear fashionable clothing such as haute couture.
But Li Tingqin was wearing just a simple formal suit without any embroidery, very low-key and plain. His style was somewhat similar to Gu Chen today, but the identities of the two were very different.
Meeting Gu Chen's eyes, Li Tingqin immediately stepped forward, extended his hand, and said, "Commander Gu, thank you for your generosity and for helping to resolve this situation."
Gu Chen looked at Li Tingqin's hand. He had just been injected with the inhibitor in the morning and didn't want to get a second injection today.
Almost two seconds later, Gu Chen stretched out his right hand without taking off the glove, shook hands with Li Tingqin, and said in a light tone: "It's my duty. General Li is too polite."
His Majesty the Emperor does not have much time left. If the problem of the revolutionary army breaks out again after his death, I am afraid I will not be able to maintain the balance.
Seeing Gu Chen and Li Tingqin shaking hands without even taking off their gloves, someone immediately "politely" turned their face away and smiled with their hands covering their lips.
Even if someone like Commander-in-Chief Gu is willing to help save Li Tingqin, Li Tingqin's identity does not allow him to have any connection with Commander-in-Chief Gu.
However, they saw that Li Tingqin did not show any sign of being angry in the face of such insulting behavior, and he kept smiling and continued, "Commander Gu, are you interested in discussing the situation in the border area?"
Gu Chen looked at him and recalled the past that the old emperor had mentioned today. At that time, they were still studying at the Imperial Military Academy, Li Tingqin was studying in the combat department, and he was studying in the command department.
Even though Li Tingqin was able to get his tuition waived due to his excellent grades, the high cost of living and mecha fees on the capital planet still required him to work several jobs, and he was still extremely poor.
Many times, their "date" was to go to an underground fighting arena to fight underground boxing, and then he would give all the money he won to Li Tingqin.
Just as Gu Chen was about to say something, the secretary showed a slightly anxious look. Gu Chen smiled at Li Tingqin without changing his expression and said, "General Li, I have something else to do. I'll excuse you for a moment."
The secretary's heart was beating wildly, and he didn't even dare to speak in front of others. He took Gu Chen to a small meeting room and said, "Sir, I followed the Third Prince's people and found a terrible problem. There may be a large number of explosives under the palace... The specific location has not been determined yet."
"My Lord, listen to me. You must follow the Third Prince closely now. Until the situation is investigated, only he is safe."
Gu Chen laughed instead of getting angry: "Is this the palace security?" The emperor never paid much attention to this son, so he only gave him some marginal tasks, such as renovating the palace. These explosives were buried at that time. As for how it was accepted, we can only ask the royal family.
Gu Chen had already prepared himself to confront Li Tingqin, but he couldn't stop someone from overturning the table.
Gu Chen quickly ordered: "Find someone to hold the third prince back and don't let him leave. I will go to move His Majesty now." The emperor must not die at this time.
But everyone underestimated the degree of madness of the Third Prince. Even though Gu Chen sent a message to the emperor to evacuate immediately and then rushed over immediately, before he even reached the old emperor's bedroom, the entire palace shook violently, violent explosions occurred in many places, and shrapnel flew everywhere.
Gu Chen fell down immediately, but his back was still hit by several shrapnel. In the thick smoke and dust, Gu Chen stood up. The shock wave caused by the explosion made him cough up two mouthfuls of blood, and his sensitive nerves seemed to be buzzing.
The visibility was extremely low at the moment, and from a distance the palace where the banquet was being held seemed to have been blown down. Was the Third Prince willing to risk his own life and drag everyone else down with him?
Gu Chen endured the discomfort and quickly rushed to the bedroom, but it was obvious that they had not had time to evacuate to a safe area. This was the place hardest hit by the explosion, with bloodstains all over the place and broken arms and limbs everywhere in the ruins.
The old emperor lay in the ruins with his eyes open, dead.
But Gu Chen's expression soon calmed down. He found a medical box in the ruins of a nearby medical room. He bit the hem of his shirt, pulled out the shrapnel from his waist with tweezers, hastily disinfected it, and began to sew.
The location on the back was inconvenient, but he pulled them out one by one and hastily sewed them up. Only one shrapnel was embedded very deeply and he was unable to take it out for the time being.
He sprayed all the wounds with hemostatic spray and wrapped them tightly with bandages.
Soon, his subordinates arrived and brought his mecha. Gu Chen changed into the spare military uniform placed in the mecha. Except for his slightly pale face, he seemed to have not suffered any damage in the explosion.
Gu Chen said: "Don't let anyone get close here. Just say that His Majesty was slightly injured in the explosion and is recuperating."
"From now on, the capital planet is under full martial law."
"Since General Li was injured in the palace, let him stay in the palace to recuperate and don't let him leave."
I will finish writing this extra chapter tomorrow.
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