CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 45 PARTING SORROW

On the second day of Lunar New Year, at the Imperial Capital train station.

Bai Zhizhan and his team had originally planned to return before the New Year, but they were reluctantly persuaded by He Pengfei’s hearty invitation to stay and celebrate the Spring Festival before leaving.

In just a few days, the situation within the Empire had undergone drastic changes.

It was not because of a defeat, but because it had not yet been defeated!

Bai Zhizhan only learned afterwards that on the day the second phase of the wargame was conducted, the Holy Emperor was admitted to the Imperial Hospital and a critical illness notice was issued. Later that same day, the Privy Council, anticipating the worst-case scenario, sent a special envoy to the western battlefield to retrieve the Crown Prince from the Imperial Guard Army and bring him back to the Imperial Capital. It was for this reason that Zhu Shijian terminated the wargame and issued an order prohibiting anyone from disclosing anything about the exercise.

The critical point was that the Crown Prince was an undeniable warmonger!

Though after the Constitutional Amendment, the Empire’s authority had shifted to the Cabinet and the deliberative assemblies, and even the National Seal had been handed over to the Privy Council, reducing the imperial authority to a symbolic figurehead, the Imperial Family still possessed unparalleled appeal during wartime, being the spiritual leader of all military and civilians.

Herein lay the problem.

If the Crown Prince, after his ascension, were to call upon the nation’s military and citizens to fight the enemy to the death, it would spell serious trouble!

Fortunately, such a scenario did not happen.

The Holy Emperor did not pass away, and the Crown Prince remained the Crown Prince.

However, no one knew how long the Holy Emperor could persist on his sickbed.

Interestingly, it wasn’t just the peace-loving officials of the Imperial Cabinet who were worried and frightened, but also the Alliance Group that had been pressuring the Empire.

Clearly, the Alliance Group was also concerned that following the Emperor’s death, under the command of a young and vigorous new Emperor, the Liangxia Empire would fight to the bitter end. By then, even if they won achieving an even more complete and thorough victory, the Alliance Group would have to pay a much steeper price.

The overall situation was set, and a pyrrhic victory was clearly not worth the cost.

Additionally, the rebels of the Luosha Empire had already seized and controlled the western regions, and the ousted government that had fled to the eastern regions was still struggling to recover. Whether by deploying troops directly or providing weapons, ammunition, and other supplies, the Alliance Group had to cooperate with the Liangxia Empire.

More accurately, they needed the support and assistance of the Liangxia Empire.

As a result, several previously unresolved issues were rapidly settled—or rather, consensus was reached.

On the first day of Lunar New Year, which was yesterday, representatives of the Liangxia Empire and the five principal member countries of the Alliance Group formally signed a ceasefire agreement in Marra City, the capital of Nanzhu Country.

This was the renowned "Marra Agreement."

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t yet a "peace treaty," or at least not a complete one.

Mainly because it was too rushed and couldn’t be comprehensive, they had to start by implementing the agreed-upon terms through the signing of the agreement to end the war.

The rest, they would address after the ceasefire.

That’s why it was called a ceasefire agreement, not a peace treaty.

The biggest issue in the entire agreement was the lack of a part restricting naval armaments, which also happened to be the most challenging part to negotiate.

The agreement only mentioned one point: by the end of the year, the Liangxia Empire must negotiate with the five countries of the Alliance Group regarding the matter of limiting naval armaments.

Specifically, the Liangxia Empire had to present a detailed plan by the end of the year, or else they would have to accept a plan proposed by the Alliance Group.

Time-wise, a few months was definitely not enough.

The key was that any matters related to armaments restrictions had to be determined through negotiation and consultation to be widely recognized and fully implemented.

Negotiating such terms within a few months was extremely difficult.

However, difficult as it was, a ceasefire was the general trend.

The second day after the ceasefire, the Imperial Capital’s train station was packed with people, mostly military personnel, but almost all were retired soldiers from the Army.

Just last night, the Empire’s Army had issued the first list of military downsizing.

This cut half of the Army officers and soldiers, which was about seven million military jobs!

According to the orders issued by the Army Headquarters, all the downscaled military personnel had to be reassigned within the month. Excluding senior officers and a few technical sergeants, the rest of the downsized personnel had to first report back to their places of origin, and only after reporting could they obtain employment assistance from the authorities.

That’s why there were so many people at the train station.

Don’t forget, the Imperial Capital Garrison itself had millions of officers and soldiers, and even though the downsizing didn’t reach 50%, it definitely cut hundreds of thousands of military jobs.

Over the next few days, hundreds of thousands of retired officers and soldiers would leave the Imperial Capital.

"Seeing you off for a thousand miles, eventually we must part. I will see you off here, take good care of yourselves!"

"You too!"

Bai Zhizhan was the first to embrace Zhao Yu and bid farewell, then Li Jie and others came forward to say goodbye to Zhao Yu in turn.

This guy was straightforward enough to steal the lines Bai Zhizhan had meant to say.

Although he had performed well in strategic simulations, Bai Zhizhan could not stay in the Imperial Capital. He had received an appointment letter personally signed by He Yongxing, and was returning to the Puzhou Navy Shipyard to serve as the supervisor of the "Longjiang" and ensure that the redesign and construction processes went smoothly.

As expected, the "Longjiang" would be transformed into a mother ship.

That’s why Zhao Yu stayed at the Navy Headquarters to serve as the chief engineer of the design team, specifically responsible for the mother ship’s redesign work.

Of course, Bai Zhizhan did not return empty-handed.

His biggest achievement from this trip to the Imperial Capital was pulling strings for his five close friends.

He Yongxing had approved Bai Zhizhan’s request and issued transfer orders for Li Jie and the other four, incorporating them all into the "Longjiang" supervisory team.

However, it wasn’t all perfect.

Earlier this year, under pressure from the Southern Fleet, Zhu Shijian had reallocated the four cruisers under construction – two ships from the Cizhou Navy Shipyard were assigned to the Southern Fleet and the construction sequence was also adjusted, with the "Heng River" replacing the "Mo River" as the No.2 Ship.

Moreover, Zhu Shijian promised to make every effort to preserve all four battleships.

Additionally, the Cabinet Chief had in principle agreed to allow the Empire’s Navy to transform an existing transport ship into a mother ship to facilitate the early conduct of related tactical studies.

According to Zhao Yu, as long as the funding was approved, the transformation would only take a few months.

In a sense, this was the urgent need because it would only be after acquiring a mother ship and putting it into use that the actual requirements for a mother ship would become clear.

It would also be possible to explore and summarize the tactical uses of shipborne air forces only after possessing a mother ship.

Technical issues could be left to Zhao Yu to worry about.

Tactical matters had to be dealt with by oneself.

Before leaving, Bai Zhizhan had specifically called Gui Boyong, hoping he could find an opportunity to emphasize this matter with higher-ups.

Of course, that was a story for another time.

Back at the Puzhou Navy Shipyard, a fresh start awaited Bai Zhizhan and his five close friends, and a glorious history awaited them to set it in motion.

At this moment, what Bai Zhizhan could think of was how to navigate through this turbulent and difficult period.

Just as the saying goes: A person without forethought will surely have immediate worries.

With the Empire in turmoil, who could have far-reaching insights?