137: Planning for the future

Added chapter for An Zai QWQ's reward on 9-30 (2/9)

Currently owe 20

...The meeting ended, and Xi Hai left the conference room.

Julius followed, looking at the Legion's internal communication, then leaned in and stopped Xi Hai, saying:

"Supreme Director, we just received a notification,

"The direct squad of the Thirteenth Brigade of the Ninth Mobile Fleet is about to arrive at the Headquarters Port. They are carrying the remains of the recently fallen martyrs. Should we... go to greet them?"

Looking at the dispirited Julius, Xi Hai estimated that the casualties from this battle must have been considerable.

He nodded gently and replied:

"Let's go. Let us welcome those noble and fearless heroic souls together."

...The atmosphere at the port was extremely solemn, with a large number of people in military dress uniforms standing silently.

Three damaged frigates slowly sailed into the pressurized inner harbor, mooring at their berths. Then—the gate slowly opened, and several people in damaged powered armor walked out.

Following behind them were warriors with solemn and sad expressions, their steps firm and powerful.

In their hands, they carried small boxes made of metal or other materials.

Undoubtedly, their comrades, with whom they had spent day and night, rested within them.

Xi Hai's mind replayed what Julius had told him on the way here—

[In the distant legends from the homeworld, warriors who died in battle and could not be buried in their homeland would be forever confined to the battlefield, becoming wandering spirits for eternity.]

[The universe is too desolate, too silent.]

[Every comrade is a brother or sister with whom we have faced life and death. We cannot bear—nor can we abandon them in the endless, lonely expanse of the stars.]

[While alive, they endured endless suffering with us.]

[And when they fall into silence, we only wish for them to return to their roots.]

[We will collect their remains, we will perform soul-summoning rituals...]

[Everything, everything is in the hope that they can—return.]

At this moment, the leader of those warriors walked up to Xi Hai, interrupting his thoughts.

The warrior stood at attention on the spot, his powered armor clanking crisply on the floor, and he shouted:

"Reporting, Supreme Director!"

"The direct squad of the Thirteenth Brigade of the Ninth Mobile Fleet! Captain Reinman!"

"Escorting the fallen warriors of the 7th Squad of the Thirteenth Brigade of the Ninth Mobile Fleet and the fallen Marines of the Brigade's direct command! A total of 37,227 individuals!"

"Returning to headquarters!"

"Mission accomplished!!!"

Xi Hai also stood at attention and returned a military salute. He looked at the fierce warrior before him—and the small boxes behind them—and responded with an equally clear voice:

"Tianjin Seat V8 Chusiro!"

"In the name of Chusiro, I welcome the warriors who bravely sacrificed themselves to protect humanity! Welcome home!!!"

"My unit will now take over the remains of the fallen warriors!!!"

"I will personally perform the soul-summoning ritual!"

At the opportune moment, following the pre-arranged procedure, Julius immediately ordered loudly:

"Attention, all personnel!!!"

"Welcome the remains of the martyrs!!!"

"Yes!!!"

Soon, the transfer ceremony was completed. The honor guard fired their guns into the sky. Xi Hai took a pole tied with a tattered first-generation Imperial Navy flag and stood at the front of the procession.

Everyone's expressions were solemn and respectful. Soon, the gunshots ceased, and Xi Hai led the procession, slowly beginning to move forward.

He began to wave the military flag, chanting loudly in the tone Julius had described—

"Souls, return!

Swiftly engaging the enemy beyond the heavens, arrows spent and wings wounded;

Aliens fierce asTaotie, black armor gleaming with cold light!"

"Souls, return!

Ship's hull shattered like broken jade, floating battle robes turned to dust;

Frozen souls congealed in the void, hearing the sky wind weep phosphorus!"

"Souls, return!

Red-skinned aliens entrenched, sucking marrow like sweet wine;

Vengeful spirits wailing in the nebula, sunlight hidden!"

"Souls, return!

Humbly I ask you, gentlemen, to bear witness, a new era can be expected,

Starships arrayed like the Milky Way, building a nine-layered foundation!

Alien nests burned to ashes, songs of triumph resounding through the stars!"

"Souls, return! Behold the peace!"

...In the office,

After placing the small boxes containing the martyrs' remains in their designated storage, Xi Hai slowly withdrew.

Now, he finally had some quiet time to himself.

He planned to inventory what he currently possessed and then plan what to do in the future.

He pulled out a few sheets of paper and began to draw and write.

First and foremost, the most important task was the construction of the over 500 star systems in Tianjin Seat V89.

Over 300 of these star systems had already fallen into the hands of the aliens, and reclaiming them all presented a considerable challenge. Fortunately, the Void Shield research and the captured Void Bubble Engine research that had been inserted into night lamp were almost yielding results—at least, the Void Bubble Engine could temporarily solve the transportation problem for those 300+ star systems where the star markers had been destroyed.

However, for a long-term solution... without a moment's hesitation, Xi Hai circled this large section and wrote two words next to it:

"stargate"

That's right, he planned to begin construction of a stargate network.

However, reclaiming those star systems would undoubtedly require a fleet.

A shipbuilding plan was also put on the agenda:

First, to replenish the combat power of the 9-89th Legion.

He took up his pen and wrote—

The number of Pathfinder bases must be rapidly increased to ensure the supply and logistics of the Legions' Warships.

Clones affairs also needed to be gradually rolled out in the 9-89th Legion.

As for the Empire's first batch of orders, due in a few days, there was no rush. The Empire currently didn't know his industrial production speed. He just needed to combine it with the local production speed, estimate a time, and report it.

Next—was the administrative structure of Tianjin Seat V89. Since the Empire's institutions here, apart from the Taxation Department, were completely stalled,

to reduce the difficulty of social mobilization, he decided to first leverage the prestige of the 9-89th Legion to achieve preliminary military governance.

Economy... this hadn't been investigated, but it was worth noting that he still had the Sacred Stars Group, such a large legitimate front company that it would be a pity not to use it.

So, he would put Warships with their Warp Engines removed in there for sale, first find a way to expand the commercial territory, starting from the smaller secondary regimes, and then gradually spread his influence to various regions of the Order Alliance.

And Norma... he really couldn't think of any use for it, so he'd leave it for now. Something would come up later.

As for that White Shark guy? He had previously said he had deciphered the production location of those nanobots and applied to go retrieve them.

He'd approve some Warships for him to operate freely... After much effort, filling more than ten pages, Xi Hai finally completed the preliminary planning for the near future. After some initial organization, it could be directly implemented.

Then, he focused his attention on the biggest problem exposed after the recently concluded surprise attack, and also the most important part of transforming the 9-89th Legion—

Ideological construction.

Currently, his subordinates did not yet have a unified guiding ideology and belief; everyone had their own opinions.

Because his scale was not large before this, the negative impact of this defect was also not significant.

But this was a problem that would have to be faced sooner or later. The earlier he started, the more opportunities there would be for trial and error, and the smaller the losses if he had to backtrack.

However, he was not an expert. Although there were many excellent theories in his previous life, they would certainly not be entirely applicable before being combined with the actual situation here.

For now, it seemed he could only proceed step by step: first tell the army what they were fighting for, and then, with the army as the core, instill spiritual guidance into the populace of the governed areas.

So... how to choose a social ideology?

Like a certain 'little mustache,' use hatred to bind and unite people?

No, this reason was indeed easy to use, but its negative effects were far greater than its positive ones.

When the object of hatred disappears, people united by hatred either hate another target or disintegrate like a mirage.

After some thought, he decided to rely on the ideologies he was most familiar with—historical materialism, people's historical view, and dialectical materialism... and then use them as a foundation to slowly build the edifice belonging to this universe.

After making a preliminary decision, he opened a book and slowly began to write—

"Through the collective efforts of countless generations over tens of thousands of years, humanity has created an incomparably brilliant and splendid civilization..."

...First, let me clarify, not following the 'red line,' but an enlightened autocratic imperial system. The above are basic sociological theories, not doctrines.