From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 409 The Hunt Begins

“Your Highness, do you mean that the fact that more people are turning to the regent is not a good thing for him?” Natalia stepped forward and followed behind Agnes.

"Sir Natalia, think about it, among those who have sided with the Regent, how many people can guess his true intentions?

Most people still believe that Norton II just wants to overthrow the Leon family and replace them, and the internal strife in the empire is nothing more than the final showdown between the 'old king' and the 'new king', so if you turn to the regent now, you may still be able to become a loyal minister and a member of the old palace."

Agnes turned back and said:

"But what is the reality? What Norton II wants is most likely a revolution that betrays his class. If those nobles who have sided with him knew that Norton II wanted to overthrow their lives, how do you think they would react?"

The words of the Imperial Princess left Natalia silent. As an Imperial noble, although her family had currently sided with the Princess, they were still considered old-fashioned nobles of the Saint Saunière Orthodox Star Dragon Banner.

So when she put herself into that scene and thought about it, she had to admit that she really could not accept the deprivation of the nobility's privileges.

Even though her family was very open-minded in treating the people in their territory, apart from exercising the right to tax within the territory, they did not use the privileges of the nobility too much.
Seeing that her captain of the Royal Guard had fallen into silence and was reluctant to speak, Agnes smiled.

"It seems you already have the answer, Lady Natalia."

"Yes, Your Highness." Natalia lowered her head, with a look of shame on her face.

"Don't feel ashamed. A true 'saint' may not appear in this world for hundreds of years. Most people will change their original intentions after gaining status, power, and wealth that surpass others. It is difficult for them to give up these things. This is human nature.

Even I am no exception, or it is even more difficult for me to give up the power in my hands, and I also cannot accept the end of the royal family's rule over the Star Dragon Empire."

As Agnes spoke, she turned to look at a star dragon emblem that decorated the interior - it was the exclusive emblem of the royal family.

"Perhaps Norton II is such a rare saint who can betray his class and start a revolution for the sake of his ideals. But what about his followers? What about his staff?
Could these people, who were also aristocrats, really give up their superior status, position, and life because of his words and join him in the revolution?

Not to mention those who joined halfway with ulterior motives, they may not even know what Norton II wants to do."

Natalia nodded after listening to Agnes' words, and then asked, "Your Highness, how should we deal with this next? Should we just wait and see?"

“There’s no other good solution, is there?” Agnes stopped looking at the emblem and looked back at her captain of the guard.

"The current situation is not suitable for us to take the initiative. We should first find a way to defend the basic situation, at least to ensure that we will not be without a single card in our hands in the final battle.
Well, let's try to contact the Atlas Group and see if they or Mr. Amber can cooperate."

Natalia nodded and said, "I understand. Should we let Viscount Bavs contact him?"

"Well, let him go, but I still have to warn him to curb his arrogant and domineering personality."

"Yes, Your Highness. I will take my leave now."

Natalia bowed slightly and left the room.

Agnes walked to the table, took a sip of the still steaming tea, and after a moment slowly spoke:

"Is there any news from Father?"

"Your Highness, I am sorry for my incompetence. I have not yet obtained any valuable information. The three groups of people who went undercover were recently eliminated due to the sudden overall replacement of personnel within the Grand Palace. Therefore, I am unable to obtain any information about the Grand Palace or the underground for the time being."

No other voices were heard in the room, but a processed voice that could not be identified still rang in Agnes's ears. "Why is it so strict? What on earth does the emperor want to do?"

Agnes frowned slightly, obviously not expecting such a situation to happen, "What is the origin of the new person?"

"A group of the most devout church deacons and fanatics hand-picked by Archbishop Jules Mazarin."

"interesting."
-
Another month passed quickly, and the production on Pella IV slowly recovered to 60% of the pre-war level during this period. Although all kinds of materials were still a little tight, at least there was no need to rely on the Yuge family's fleet for large-scale material transportation.

As Atlas continues to deploy more production lines on the planet, the problem of material shortages will be completely solved over time.

The troops that have completed large-scale combat missions will now have an easier time, especially the two heavy combined brigades that have been fighting the longest, which have begun to rotate personnel back to the Tower of Babel for rest and recuperation.

As for the remaining battles against stragglers and some rioters who took advantage of the situation, they were all handed over to the ten newly formed brigade-level units. They were also asked to carry out practical training in subjects such as long-distance maneuvers, security warfare in civilian environments, and counter-guerrilla warfare.

Because according to the predictions of Amber and senior staff, these subjects are likely to be the most common subjects encountered in future land battles, except for large-scale head-on confrontations.

On this day, when Amber, Hogg and others were in the command cabin on the ground, observing a brigade-level unit conducting a long-distance maneuver, an emergency communication sounded on Amber's personal terminal.

After arriving at an empty armored command vehicle, Amber connected the communication, and Isabel's serious and anxious face suddenly appeared on the tactical surface in front of her.

"Amber, the Federation has officially issued sanctions against us."

Amber was not surprised to hear the news, after all, he had told Isabel before that this situation would happen.

“What are the specific sanctions?”

"Additional tariffs will be imposed on products sold by the Atlas Group to companies within the Federation. They also said we were suspected of illegal monopoly and required us to open source our quantum entanglement communication technology. Finally, they restricted the time that all Atlas employees could stay in planets, space cities, colonial satellites and other areas within the Federation. Even high-level executives and directors would be monitored."

Isabel quickly repeated the refined sanctions, and Amber listened with an expression of 'as expected'.

"Hmph, it's similar to what I speculated before. They want to disgust us, but they don't want to go too far, so they didn't directly ban us from conducting trade activities within the Federation."

There was a hint of disdain in Amber's tone. He paused and continued:

"But in essence, this method is still used to prevent us from competing with the traditional military industry of the Federation. The military-industrial complex should also have some actions, right?"

"Yes, Amber." Isabel nodded. "The military giants of the Federation are very united. They all announced all kinds of new equipment that they will launch within one day. Basically, they are targeting our flagship products. It is obvious that they want to take this opportunity to 'hunt' us in the market."

"I'm just afraid they won't come. The sooner and more urgently they come, the greater the chance for us."

Amber, who had already made arrangements for the response in advance, was not too upset at this time. He was about to say something when Isabel suddenly received an urgent message.

Seeing Isabel's changed expression, Amber's expression also became serious. After a moment, she heard the Atlas intelligence chief say:

"An automatic emergency message just came through from our office at Rubion Five - they are under armed attack."

(End of this chapter)