202: Chapter 202 Military Ranks

"Begin!"

Elder Long turned and said a word. From the side of the ceremonial platform, a soldier walked out, carrying a tray with both hands. After the soldier stood at attention, Elder Long picked up the new shoulder boards from the tray and began to attach them for Chu Ge.

Chu Ge stared at Elder Long, not daring to look anywhere else.

After Elder Long finished attaching the shoulder boards for Chu Ge, he picked up the red military rank order from the tray and turned to face the audience below the podium.

"All stand!"

"Whoosh." The officers and soldiers below stood up in unison. Chu Ge looked over, and their gazes were all focused on him, including Academician Chen, Commander Meng, and Commander Wang.

Elder Long faced the officers and soldiers, solemnly opened the red order certificate, and then, a deep, resonant voice echoed through the auditorium:

Order of Conferment of Military Rank: Confer the rank of Lieutenant General of Professional Technical Grade 1 upon Chu Ge.

As Elder Long finished speaking, enthusiastic applause immediately erupted from below, followed by a chorus of shouts:

"Lieutenant General Chu! Lieutenant General Chu! Lieutenant General Chu!"

These shouts were majestic and powerful, and under the special atmosphere of the auditorium, they appeared even more imposing and domineering!

Listening to these shouts, the blood in Chu Ge's veins surged with excitement. He "swished" his right hand up and gave a solemn military salute to everyone.

Chu Ge looked around, his right hand remaining raised for a long time.

It should be known that the format for Huaxia's military rank conferment orders is very fixed. Most of the conferment orders for Navy, Army, and Air Force officers follow the format of conferring a specific rank upon a person.

There is another situation, like that of Chu Ge, who does not lead troops in battle but belongs to the category of rear-echelon technical research personnel, who can be conferred a professional technical military rank.

Professional technical grades are divided into levels 1-14, with levels 1-2 eligible for the rank of Major General or Lieutenant General.

This time, Chu Ge went straight to the top...

[Congratulations, Host, on achieving the rank of Lieutenant General. With the military rank jump, you have gained 30,000 Honor Points, and the system has awarded 20,000 points. Your current Honor Points total is 60,000.]

System Big Brother was also joining in the excitement, but Chu Ge had no time to pay attention to it now. Elder Long, Commander Wang, and the officers and soldiers below were all watching; he didn't want anyone to think he was distracted at this critical moment.

Elder Long turned around, walked up to Chu Ge, and solemnly handed the conferment order to him.

"A 24-year-old Lieutenant General is one of a kind in Huaxia. Chu Ge, do you know how old I was when I was conferred the rank of Lieutenant General?"

Chu Ge shook his head.

"58 years old. 58 minus 24... I'm thinking that in these 34 years, you will definitely achieve great things. But now that you've reached the top, what will you do in the future? There's nothing left to be conferred, right?"

Elder Long finished speaking and looked at Chu Ge with a smile.

"Elder Long, how can I compare to you? You fought your way up leading troops, that's the real deal. Mine is technical, it's different, it's different, haha."

"Don't say that. In our Huaxia, there has never been a saying that professional technical military ranks are lower than military officer ranks. On the contrary, professional technical ranks have longer tenures, more room for promotion, and better benefits. Do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because the country values technical talent. As long as you are gold, your value will not be buried!"

"Yes!"

Chu Ge saluted Elder Long. What else could he say? Elder Long had already spoken to this extent; to be any more humble would seem pretentious.

"Alright, go back and prepare. There's a victory celebration banquet tonight, Lieutenant General Chu!"

"Yes!"

Chu Ge walked down from the podium. Academician Chen, Commander Wang, and the others were all watching him with affirming gazes. They must have known about it in advance. Chu Ge walked up to them.

"Elder Chen, your confidentiality work is quite good."

"Haha, there's no helping it. A higher rank suppresses those below; Elder Long wouldn't let us say anything."

"Alright, go on. Remember to wear this uniform to the victory banquet tonight. We old folks still have to go entertain those foreign dignitaries; we know you don't like attending these."

Chu Ge nodded, greeted the several bigwigs, and then walked out.

He planned to return to his residence first; he needed to process this sudden surprise.

Captain Gong was walking beside Chu Ge. He glanced casually, but caught sight of Chu Ge's shoulder boards.

His gaze, which had already swept past, suddenly snapped back.

"Chu, Colonel Chu, your shoulder boards?"

"Oh, Elder Long just changed them for me."

Captain Gong lost his composure and stood frozen in place. The guards behind, seeing their captain standing still, subconsciously thought there was a situation, and their hands instinctively moved to reach for their guns.

Following Captain Gong's gaze, they finally discovered the problem.

"Chu, Lieutenant General Chu!" Captain Gong finally snapped out of it and hurriedly saluted. The guards also shouted along. The looks they gave Chu Ge at this moment were even more complex.

"Alright, we're all so familiar with each other, no need to stare at me. To be honest, I'm still dazed myself."

Chu Ge finished speaking, returned their salute, and then turned to go upstairs.

Chu Ge entered his room and hurriedly took off his uniform, his palm gently rubbing the five-pointed stars on those two shoulder boards.

"The general's star... this, this is too sudden."

After sighing for a while, Chu Ge suddenly remembered System Big Brother.

"System Big Brother, how much did you say my Honor Points were just now?"

[60,000.]

"60,000, 60,000... First, redeem the heavy battleship for me."

Chu Ge started spending directly. He would have to redeem it sooner or later. These Honor Points were very stable; keeping them didn't cause devaluation, but there was no interest either. Chu Ge decided to satisfy his craving first.

[Congratulations, Host, on successfully redeeming the heavy battleship. Relevant data and blueprints have been issued; please take note. Friendly reminder: Your Honor Points balance is 50,000.]

"50,000... it seems like a lot can be redeemed, but also like nothing can be redeemed. If I had 100,000, I could go all-in to terraform a planet."

[Are you still dreaming about that? Didn't I already tell you? 100,000 Honor Points is easy to talk about, but the mismatch in basic technology is the real hard obstacle.]

"Can't I have a daydream? My military rank has reached its limit today, and my Honor Points will probably stay at this level until I die."

Chu Ge suddenly thought of this problem; colonizing a planet might really only be something to fantasize about.

[Honor includes the promotion of military rank, but it is not limited to just that. Host can rest assured about this; just focus on lighting up the technology tree. The journey has only just begun!]

Chu Ge nodded, turned, and rushed into the bathroom. He needed to calm down; there was still a victory banquet later.

...

Li Guangrong and the others were also waiting, waiting for the police to release them.

The translator, Lu, had calculated for a long time, but missed a few points: that in Huaxia, once a public figure makes a mistake, what awaits them will inevitably be a more severe punishment.

Another important point was the location where they caused trouble: a key military area. Furthermore, they did it in front of so many international friends, and there was even a live television broadcast on the side. The impact was extremely bad.

Therefore, after a brief consultation, the relevant Huaxia departments decided to give them the maximum penalty.

1. Deportation. (Executed immediately after completing the administrative punishment.)

2. "Gloriously" added to the blacklist, listed as persona non grata, never to enter Huaxia territory again in this lifetime.

3. Accompanying administrative punishment as follows: Must obtain forgiveness from the person struck and issue a public apology, simultaneously paying a fine of 100,000 huaxia currency.

When the translator tremblingly finished translating the above punishment decision, Li Guangrong was stunned. He never expected that things would develop to this point. In his country, let alone a slap, even if he had [redacted] someone, it wouldn't reach this level.

Thinking it over, he still attributed the cause to Chu Ge. Thinking of this, Li Guangrong gnashed his teeth in anger...