Seven days after the meeting, Qin Guang personally took charge of Zhou Donglai's refrigeration work.
Seeing his proud student who had high hopes for him turned into an "ice sculpture" in the freezer, Qin Guang felt both melancholy and helpless.
He recalled the conversation between himself and Zhou Donglai last night.
Qin Guang wanted to scold Zhou Donglai at first, but when he got to the point, he just patted the student on the shoulder.
"Next time before making such an important decision, I hope you can think it through or consult with more people."
"Teacher, you once told me that a real commander can only rely on himself on the battlefield. Every decision must be made quickly and accurately. Commanders must be responsible for their own decisions and make decisive decisions. They cannot always expect others to help them share responsibilities in meetings. If every important decision needs to be voted on in a meeting, then when the enemy's artillery fire has covered Hanzhou, we are still voting in the conference room. When you formulated the scalpel treatment plan for the fleet, it was your own decision. As your student, of course I will follow your example."
"Hiss... Since you are so capable, so smart and responsible, you should fulfill your duties instead of playing tricks to evade them! I am old..."
"Teacher, you are indeed old. But historical experience tells me that wine becomes more fragrant as it ages. Maybe you still think that I am just acting on my own to protect your honor, or maybe you really think that I am evading my responsibilities, but I believe that with your wisdom, one day you will understand what I am trying to do."
...
In the autumn of 2909, under the auspices of Qin Guang, the fleet reconstruction work was finally fully on track.
In June, the real energy refining technology in the curvature space shared by the empire further improved the efficiency of the fleet's energy collection, and the latest ultra-high efficiency and complex polycrystalline structure material synthesizer that can be used in the curvature space further improved the fleet's ability to synthesize special materials.
The value of these two technologies to the entire civilization is not that great. As early as 2815, the Empire had already been able to do it in the original three-dimensional space. The only thing is to rebuild it inside the curvature space and not destroy the structure of the curvature bubble during its operation. The technological content and difficulty of realization have been raised to several levels. However, with the persistent efforts of tens of thousands of research institutes distributed in thousands of galaxies and hundreds of millions of scientific researchers in related fields, the technical barriers were finally broken and transmitted to the fleet synchronously at the first time.
In the technology announcement speech, Qin Guang said emotionally: "The value of these two technologies to the whole civilization is just accumulation, but to us, their value is comparable to human body freezing technology. We are more than 15,000 light years away from the border of the empire, and we can never go back in this lifetime. However, our hometown has not forgotten us, and has never stopped supporting and helping us. I hope you know that in order to apply these two technologies to curvature space, nearly a hundred years have passed? A total of 6.7 billion researchers with master's degrees or above, 230 million doctors, 7.6 million Imperial certified senior scholars, and more than 200,000 treasure-level masters have devoted their life energy to related projects. In order to meet the experimental conditions, more than 30 billion workers are struggling in all walks of life. In the past hundred years, the number of casualties in laboratory accidents alone has reached more than 30 million. They are engaged in work that is not of much help to the Empire itself. Who do you think these people are dedicated to? "
Many people who looked at Qin Guang's speech lowered their heads in shame.
Qin Guang's clever use of facts has taught the second and third generations of the fleet a profound lesson.
After that, with the help of new technology, one after another new spaceships quietly broke away from the towing ship in the curvature bubble and began to operate on their own.
In order to restore the population as soon as possible and increase the total amount of human resources, the large-scale breeding plan kicked off.
In just a few months, the number of embryos that entered the bionic palace at the same time reached as many as one billion.
Of course, due to the loss of Zhou Donglai, Qin Guang's workload increased a lot.
In just a few months, he looked a lot older.
This day, after a busy day, Qin Guang returned to his room alone, lay on the bed and rested for a long time before washing up.
He looked at his silver-haired face covered with age spots in the mirror and was in a daze for a long time.
He turned his head to look at the large photo hanging in the middle of the living room behind him. His eyes became blurred and his vision gradually blurred.
In the photo, he was standing shoulder to shoulder with several old men and women in military uniforms or suits.
Everyone had a deep smile on their face, which was the joy and excitement from the heart.
Behind the group of people was the high-hanging star Voyager.
Under the feet of the group of people was the highest podium of the administrative command space station of the Voyager Galaxy.
At that time, he had just led the human beings of the Voyager Galaxy to win the war against the Pisces as the acting commander-in-chief.
He was only forty-six years old that year, in the prime of youth and strength.
There was no star on his shoulder that year, but his sharp edge was revealed.
Qin Guang vaguely remembered his thoughts at the time.
"I have finally proved myself. I will definitely go to the highest stage of all civilization. I will prove myself. I will dedicate my life to the great struggle of human civilization without any regrets."
Time flies, and two hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye.
The spirited black short hair turned into messy half-long silver hair, and even the eyebrows turned white.
The handsome square face was covered with bags under the eyes, wrinkles like gullies, and bullet-like old age spots.
Qin Guang took a deep breath and sat down on the sofa.
He thought silently in his heart, I have fulfilled my promise and devoted my life to the most noble cause of liberating mankind without any distractions. I have no regrets.
But after billions of miles of companionship, there is always a time to say goodbye. I am old.
I don't know how long I can hold on. I'm not even sure if I can hold on until the day I reach the Silver Center.
Don't let that happen when the battle is imminent and my time is up.
Qin Guang gradually closed his eyes in a daze.
He was so tired and sleepy that he didn't complete the task he set for himself. He checked the rotation list before going to bed and fell asleep.
Time is the most powerful weapon in the universe. No matter how strong a person is, he can only grow old and slowly move towards death under the tearing of the blade of time, or he can only hide in a freezer, turning himself from a person into an "object", and begging for the mercy of time by temporarily giving up his life.
In the middle of the night, Qin Guang woke up from his sleep.
At this time, he had been transferred to the bed by the smart life assistant, but he still remembered the situation before he fell asleep, and he couldn't help but feel ashamed.
"Donglai, this guy, I'm almost old and confused, and you still rely on me. What's the saying that the older the wine is, the better it tastes, it's just bullshit."
Qin Guang muttered a few words, but his mind inexplicably recalled the "historical experience" that Zhou Donglai repeatedly emphasized.
Qin Guang made a decision to see what ancient books Zhou Donglai read during the time he pretended to be frozen.
"The Complete History of Modern China Rising from the Oddities (1840~2049)".
When Qin Guang saw the title of the book, he was stunned at first, and then he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Since he finished his studies in the military academy, he rarely read history books.
Even when he was researching, his perspective was usually limited to the war history of about 6,000 years.
Qin Guang learned the best about the new civilization history after the establishment of the world government.
He was not very interested in the old history.
In the years when he was born, the most popular thought in the Traveler Galaxy, which gave birth to many space voyagers, was to advocate freedom, to be proud of walking into the sea of stars, and to improve the empire's trade efficiency and exploration capabilities as the highest pursuit.
Human thinkers at the time generally believed that since humans already knew clearly that the identity of the enemy was an alien civilization, they should focus more on how to deal with the enemy. The internal contradictions of different races, different skin colors, and different social systems in the old history were no longer important.
Under the influence of this main trend of thought, the events that occurred from 1840 to 2049 belonged to the less important old history.
After all, the technological background of the times is completely different, and some of the secular and racial concepts of the past must be abandoned.
Qin Guang hesitated for a few seconds and almost gave up, but out of curiosity about Zhou Donglai's ideological transformation process, the old man thought it would be okay to take a look.
"Ten times the speed, play."
He never expected that this reading would take seven days and almost occupied all his spare time.
Seven days later, Qin Guang turned back to the first page of the history book, "Original speed, play."
Time passed quickly, and one hundred and thirty-five days passed in a blink of an eye.
Qin Guang also gained dozens of book friends.
He not only read the information word by word, but also replayed it bit by bit. From today's perspective, it can only be said to be a low-quality slide show.
Qin Guang saw a lot of things.
The confused Chinese nation was knocked on the door by the iron armored ships of the great powers.
In just a few decades, the population of 400 million people has been reduced to just over 200 million due to internal and external troubles. The people have been devastated and displaced.
The 5,000-year-old country has lost its dignity and freedom. Guns and cannons have destroyed the backbone of civilization, and black clay has worn away the will of civilization.
The cultivated land is overgrown with weeds, and nine out of ten houses are filled with dead bones.
A large amount of wealth of the 5,000-year-old country has been swept away. Children are born in numbness, and die prematurely in numbness and hunger.
More than 90% of people don’t know why they are alive, let alone that there are people in the world who don’t worry about the next meal.
The self-esteem of the Chinese nation has been eaten away to the point where only a spark is left, and the 5,000-year-old civilization is about to be destroyed.
At this critical moment of life and death, the lion, which had been tortured to the point of being skinny, finally roared in unwillingness.
Several turbulent decades passed. After 1949, the people of the 5,000-year-old country finally knew that ordinary people were also qualified to own a piece of land, and that if they could not finish the food they grew, they could exchange it for other living materials. It turned out that no one was born to be a slave.
But at this time, the lion, who had just escaped from the brutal slaughter, was still skinny, bullied everywhere, warned, seduced, despised, and even had a butcher knife in hand and flaunted his power outside his home.
He was also spread around the house with a notebook full of "little freedom" written on it, and was slandered by "family members" who held the "little freedom" notebook in one hand and the green bill in the other hand.
On the stumbling road forward, the lion had to face both the outside world and the so-called "reasonable differences" within the country that seemed just but were actually vicious.
It was a difficult journey.
Time passed, and it was 2020 in a blink of an eye.
The people of the 5,000-year-old country finally gradually understood the "little freedom" and "big freedom", and finally in 2049, with the unstoppable national strength, they told the entire human civilization again what the right path was.
In this small book club meeting to relearn history, Qin Guang said: "The lessons learned from history tell us that technology is the fuel that drives the progress of civilization, but ideas are the rudder that guides civilization forward. Over the past few hundred years, the pace of mankind has been too fast and too hurried. Especially our fleet, which has been staring at the ultimate goal, but forgot to stop and look back. Forgetting history is tantamount to betraying civilization! The chaos of the Free Will Alliance comes from this! Sharpening the knife does not make mistakes. Mr. Chai, if we had done a good job in ideological work from the beginning, such a tragedy would not have happened. I do not deny that everyone has the right to pursue themselves, but there must be a prerequisite. That is, human civilization must have developed to the point where no matter what risks or turmoil, the survival of the entire civilization will not be endangered! Only then will people be qualified to do whatever they want and be whoever they want. Otherwise, they are traitors to civilization! "
Dozens of other people in the book club nodded in agreement.
No matter which galaxy these people come from, what their body shape and skin color are, and what their different personalities are, they cannot deny the lessons of history.
"Starting tomorrow, we will discuss again and come up with a complete set of feasible plans."
Qin Guang announced the adjournment of the meeting.
Returning to his room, Qin Guang checked the condition of Zhou Donglai who was frozen in the freezer.
He smiled with relief.
Every father's biggest dream is not to achieve success himself, but to see his children surpass him.
Qin Guang has no descendants in the fleet. Zhou Donglai is both his student and his child.
Qin Guang said to himself: "This silly child has already surpassed me."
Zhou Donglai chose to defile himself to save Qin Guang, not because he thought he was not as capable as his teacher, but because he thought Qin Guang, who was already over 240 years old, was a living history.
Qin Guang rose in the first sudden battle in the depths of the empire, participated in the process of a huge and prosperous galaxy being quickly defeated by the surprise attack of the compound eyes, and then recovered with great difficulty, and also made a great reputation in the frontline galaxy. The
same words spoken by Qin Guang will have a heavier sense of history than those spoken by second- and third-generation leaders like Zhou Donglai.
To teach the collective thinking of the fleet, it is this sense of history that is relied on, not eloquence.
These things can only be given by Qin Guang.
Qin Guang decided to give more of himself to others.
As for himself, he retreated slightly to become one of the spiritual leaders.
"I will teach everyone a good lesson. I will also persist until you wake up."
Qin Guang said this before falling asleep.