Chapter 1692: A Dilemma |
Robert agreed to the request of the Forbidden Army Marshal.
Then he turned and called Gu Hang, exchanging a few words.
Gu Hang agreed to Robert’s request.
What does it mean to spare no expense?
This is it.
According to the original plan, the Solar Fleet was Robert’s primary target.
If not for that unexpected incident, perhaps the negotiations would have been concluded by now.
Not to mention having the Solar Fleet turn their guns to bombard the surface, at least they wouldn’t become a problem.
After that, the ground attack would progress much more smoothly.
However, the negotiations and contact, initially going well in orbit, turned into a chaotic battle, severely disrupting the progress.
Even though both sides remained somewhat restrained and rational, those destructive traitors didn’t completely succeed in sowing enmity between both parties.
But reestablishing contact will take time. Even if both sides know that the enemy was behind the sabotage, rebuilding trust is easier said than done.
Especially since many things remain unclear to this day.
Those ships suspected of being corrupted and trying to disrupt the peace talks have not yet been apprehended.
Among the various corruptive entities, Jian Qi’s corruption is undoubtedly the hardest to detect.
Corruption by the Terror Demon makes one mindless;
Corruption by Nagor causes particularly visible physical changes;
Corruption by Slaanesh is less easy to hide due to indulgent behaviors and mannerisms.
But corruption by Slaanesh is already harder to identify than the first two.
The hardest to detect is Jian Qi.
Those corrupted by Jian Qi often show little visible change. They might become more fixated on knowledge, moodier, with more changeable dispositions, but these are mostly subtle changes. Often, it’s necessary to bring them to a special interrogation room and use technology to confirm the corruption.
Yet, in the face of large-scale potential corruption, screening one by one with technology isn’t easy.
If it were ordinary people, it would be fine. The Empire has never stood on ceremony; all suspected are apprehended and screened one by one. If time is short and they act more aggressively, erring on the side of caution, then shooting first resolves any conflicts.
But now, they are dealing with a group of navy captains and officers.
The status of these naval leaders is significant.
If pressured to accept interrogation, they might refuse entry to the inquisitors, calling it an insult. What can be done then?
Labeled as traitors and having their ships destroyed?
There are quite a few captains like this, so that’s not feasible.
Moreover, these captains have their own concerns.
In this chaotic situation, who would easily entrust their lives and assets to others? Who knows if the inquisitors or their superior commanders, fleet commanders or their deputies, or heads of interrogation, have not been corrupted themselves? If an uncorrupted individual were labeled corrupted by those traitorous leaders, no amount of arguing would suffice.
The Solar Fleet’s superiors and subordinates, as well as peers, cannot trust each other, nor can they trust Robert’s expeditionary force. In such chaos, trying to restart negotiations smoothly is truly difficult.
No one wants a repeat of events that nearly led to all-out war previously.
Nevertheless, Robert’s original plan was still to resolve the Solar Fleet issue through relatively peaceful means.
The Solar Fleet’s strength is considerable, at least not inferior to Robert’s expeditionary fleet which he gathered from the Infinite Starfield and subsequently received powerful reinforcements from the Alliance.
If this attempt is mishandled and the Solar Fleet stands in opposition, combined with the orbital cannons and Holy Terra’s grand orbital defense systems, the entirety of Terra’s orbital zone becomes invincible.
At least, Robert’s expeditionary force can’t overcome it.
Even though he has taken the Earth’s Moon, the most critical orbital defense point, advancing to the ground would still incur significant casualties and require extensive siege time.
Additionally, he would need the Alliance to provide continuous support from the rear.
But can the Imperial Guard hold out that long on the ground?
The situation is not overly pessimistic, though.
The Imperial Guard cannot hold the Palace’s outer circle spanning tens of thousands of kilometers with multiple layers; they can’t defend the middle circle. But if they withdraw to the inner circle, merely the size of a Nest Capital, leveraging millions of elite Palace guards plus the Ten Thousand Man Team’s unrivaled combat prowess, they should be able to hold for a long time.
Robert believes that the urgency expressed by Yan Xinzhen earlier, urging him to immediately dispatch support troops, stems from the face and anxiety of this Forbidden Army Commander.
The Imperial Guards are so proud; for ten thousand years, they’ve never suffered such humiliation. They are understandably eager to resolve this ordeal swiftly, which Robert can totally understand.
Yet, he also harbors some concerns.
The Imperial Palace is undeniably important, but regardless of anything else, the Golden Throne at the center of the inner circle must not suffer any harm.
It symbolizes The Emperor, the remnants of the Empire after its ascension.
This place must remain untainted!
Robert thinks so as well.
Besides religious and spiritual considerations, Gu Hang also specifically warned about this.
If the Golden Throne is defiled, the connection between The Emperor and the real universe will be significantly weakened, potentially allowing those four evil gods to find a flaw and sever the link.
If that happens, The Emperor would be at massive disadvantage on the Subspace battlefield.
Even maintaining his self-concept as a human might be in question.
This is not a gamble worth taking.
Robert has some doubts.
These matters are beyond his knowledge scope.
However, he can trust Gu Hang.
It’s not a risk worth taking.
Under this cumulative pressure, the subsequent operations become significantly more challenging.
They cannot push the Solar Fleet to opposition, which would cause the situation to collapse entirely, preventing large-scale reinforcements in a short period.
Yet, a slow peaceful resolution and differentiation of corruption might also take too long and not be timely.
The delicate balance is truly difficult to manage.
Robert can no longer bear this.