SFS Chapter 124 Beihai!
Chapter 124 Beihai!
The day after the Thanksgiving disaster, Earth International hastily convened a vote and invited three representatives from Fleet International to attend the meeting.
The content of this meeting was very simple, with only one point: that Fleet International should allow Earth International to place personnel within the three major fleets to assist Fleet International in investigating any possible members of the Steel Seal Clan.
Under the guise of assisting in the investigation, their real intention was to regain control of Fleet International. Chang Weisi could hear their schemes even from the Jupiter Command.
But that's where the problem lies. Fleet International was able to remain independent in the past because everyone agreed, but now that Fleet International has run into trouble, people are questioning whether it should still maintain its independence.
Therefore, if Fleet International wants to break the deadlock at this meeting, it needs to regain public support to ensure the legitimacy of its independence.
After the meeting began, the Minister of Industry was the first to speak.
"This meeting mainly focused on the accusations against the 1413 officers of Fleet International for their handling of the Thanksgiving incident. Based on our investigation, Fleet International needs to take responsibility for the Thanksgiving incident to all of humanity and demote or dismiss the officers involved."
The Minister of Industry immediately targeted Fleet International. In his view, Fleet International's mistake in this matter was an indisputable fact, and there was no need for further discussion; they could be put on trial immediately.
For this reason, they broadcast the meeting live globally for the first time ever.
Rather than a discussion meeting, it was more like a court trial of Fleet International, and a trial with substantial evidence at that.
“Wait a moment, Minister of Industry, I have a different opinion on this matter,” Luo Congmin said, standing up.
As soon as she spoke, the reporters in the venue immediately pointed their cameras at her. Everyone had great respect for this Minister of Education. She was not only Luo Ji's daughter, but also someone who made three outstanding contributions to the second human enlightenment movement after the great trough.
"Ms. Luo, please speak."
The other ministers of Earth International all had to address this Minister of Education as a senior, since Luo Congmin was the only person to have served as minister of all five departments for dozens of terms. The longest consecutive term for the other four departments was only 10 terms, or 50 years.
No one outlived her had as much public support, and no one with higher support outlived her. Therefore, Luo Congmin is considered a legendary figure in politics.
"Fleet International's position on this matter is still unclear. We should respect Fleet International's right to independence. Without investigating whether the Steel Seal Clan still exists, I do not agree to place Earth International's people within Fleet International."
"Yes, I agree. This could reignite the conflict between the two countries. Even if Fleet International is at fault, that's their problem. We have no right to interfere with an independent nation."
Minister of Research and Development Kim Ji-seok also agreed.
The Minister of Industry seemed to have anticipated Luo Congmin's opposition. He glanced at the Minister of Military Affairs, who had been silent all along, and after a few seconds of eye contact, he spoke up as if he had confirmed something.
"We are not targeting Fleet International, but Fleet International does have significant hidden dangers. We are taking precautions and preparing for what might happen later."
"If Minister Luo Congmin disagrees, we can assign you the task of training the reserve space force. What do you think?"
Brilliant! The Minister of Industry's move was truly brilliant.
He didn't choose to confront Luo Congmin directly, since Luo Congmin's popularity far surpassed theirs.
His move was a strategic retreat, a deliberate concession that actually put Luo Congmin in a position where he only wanted benefits.
You're against me? So you think the spoils aren't enough? I'll give you more money, and then everyone will know what kind of person you are.
Luo Congmin's counterattack was swift; a sweet smile appeared on her face, a smile that brought a sense of comfort to both the officials inside and the crowd outside.
Luo Congmin was injected with a cell division drug at the age of 23, so judging from her appearance now, she is still considered to be 23 years old.
"What would I do with those? Training the Space Force is Fleet International's business. The Minister of Industry wouldn't have forgotten the 'No Interference in Fleet International' clause so quickly, would he? Or perhaps he intends to tear up this clause before the great war and incite a civil war among mankind?"
"This is a very important matter, and I must treat it with utmost care," said the Minister of Industry.
"It is important, but it is definitely not the most important."
"The most important thing is to deal with the Trisolaran fleet that is about to arrive on Earth," Luo Congmin said.
"The Trisolaran fleet? It's nothing to fear. They're just an appetizer in this grand feast of human history. With humanity's current military strength, we can easily deal with the Trisolaran fleet. That's why we should focus our efforts on resolving internal conflicts."
The Minister of Military Affairs also joined the debate between the two sides at this point.
"Is this your idea of 'pacifying the internal before resisting external aggression'? I'm afraid I can't agree with that," Luo Congmin said.
"It's not about pacifying the internal before resisting external aggression, but rather that we have far surpassed the Trisolarans. The Trisolarans are no longer a threat to all of humanity. On this point, we should reach a consensus!" said the Minister of Agriculture.
Now, all five ministers have joined the debate. After seeing Luo Congmin gradually losing ground, Kim Ji-seok no longer sat idly by and chose to fight back.
"Far surpassing the Trisolarans? When did this happen? As the head of the research department, how come I know nothing about this?"
Luo Congmin quickly realized the inappropriateness of Jin Zhixi's words. The other party was clearly digging a pit for him, but unexpectedly, Jin Zhixi took the bait first.
Sure enough, the moment Kim Ji-seok finished speaking, a commotion broke out in the hall.
"Kim Ji-seok, I hope you know what you're saying. It's an indisputable fact that humanity has surpassed the Trisolarans. Are you questioning humanity's great achievements?"
"Whether it's true or not, you know better than I do. Humanity hasn't even managed to break through the Sophon's blockade, yet you still have the nerve to say that your technology is ahead of the Trisolarans. You can fool yourselves, but how come some people actually believe it?"
"Kim Ji-seok, watch your political stance!" A glint seemed to flash in the eyes of the Minister of Agriculture, not out of anger, but because he had finally found a loophole in the other party's words.
"Kim Ji-seok, your thinking is too dangerous. I'm starting to suspect you might be a member of the Steel Seal Clan. Humanity will surely defeat the Trisolarans. You're trying to demoralize the army!" The Minister of Military Affairs slammed his fist on the table in anger, and the reporters in charge of the live broadcast all turned off their equipment.
Luo Congmin sighed helplessly; she knew that Kim Ji-seok was in trouble.
In this era, the idea that humanity will inevitably prevail has almost become an "ideological imprint" etched into everyone's mind.
Any statement that humanity cannot defeat the Trisolarans will be treated as escapism.
Whether it's recent films, television shows, dramas, or novels, humanity is portrayed as incredibly powerful, as if defeating the Trisolarans would be an easy task in people's minds.
As the Minister of Education, she was aware of the problem from the beginning and wanted to try to correct this extreme belief in certain victory, but it was difficult to achieve.
As the saying goes, what a chef cooks depends on what the guests want to eat.
Having risen from a great trough, humanity almost universally holds the belief that it will prevail, so they are not very willing to accept artistic depictions of humanity being unable to defeat the Trisolarans.
Over time, various quirky dramas were released on the screen one after another.
Artworks depicting characters tearing apart the Trisolarans with bare hands, blasting the Trisolaran fleet with a single punch, and cultivating immortality to rule the entire universe have become increasingly popular.
Over time, it becomes extremely difficult for anyone to create good works.
After all, the audience's approval rating for it is not high.
Initially, in order to solve this problem, some novelists spontaneously began to write novels that used the same cover.
At the very beginning of the novel, the protagonist possesses a god-level system, invincibly crushing the Trisolarans in various ways, which first attracts the reader. Then, the reader gradually understands the story later on, which deepens the artistic level of the book and prompts the reader to think deeply about whether it is possible to defeat the Trisolarans.
However, such works are obviously very difficult to write. If they are not written well, they may offend readers. On the contrary, novels that are invincible and crush the Trisolarans can be sold easily with just a little writing.
Later on, fewer and fewer people were willing to do this thankless task.
For nearly twenty years, Luo Congmin hasn't been able to find a single good novel to read. The books she reads are still those from more than two hundred years ago, which can be considered a tragedy of our times.
Kim Ji-seok's words were undoubtedly going against the tide; he was essentially handing over his weakness.
Sure enough, the online abuse against the head of the research department spread like wildfire in just a few seconds. People seemed to want to tear him apart and were frantically hurling insults at everything related to him. A lot of dirt on Kim Ji-seok during his tenure was also dug up by netizens and attacked in a short period of time.
However, Kim Ji-seok, who was inside the venue at the time, was unaware of all this and continued to explain his point of view.
"Shameless! They even claim to be assisting the fleet's international investigation. Do they really think everyone doesn't know what they're thinking?"
"Where do you get the confidence to think you will definitely defeat the Trisolarans? How is your current behavior any different from that of the PDC in the past? This is anti-humanity. Stop fighting, stop the infighting, unite against external threats, and stop using your petty tricks to deal with humanity itself."
Everyone present remained silent.
Because they knew that refuting Kim Ji-seok at this point was pointless, as everything he said was exactly what they thought.
The Thanksgiving incident was deliberately orchestrated by the Earth International. They wanted to use this opportunity to regain control of the Fleet International, so that after defeating the Trisolarans, their greatest threat, they would become the most powerful people in all of humanity.
Ultimately, the meeting ended abruptly without any resolution, and everyone agreed to hold a new discussion three days later.
About the day after the meeting ended, Chang Weisi came to find Luo Congmin.
“Xiaomin, if there’s really no way to resolve this, then Fleet International should make some concessions. You can’t get yourself involved, or I won’t be able to explain it to Lin Xuan.”
Hearing Chang Weisi's concern, Luo Congmin knew something was wrong.
"Kim Ji-seok committed suicide yesterday. He jumped directly from the building, and his body was broken into several pieces."
Luo Congmin sighed helplessly; this was exactly what she had expected.
“After the meeting that day, Kim Ji-seok’s family and colleagues were subjected to a frenzied reprisal by the crowd. His children were afraid to go to school, his relatives were fired from their jobs, and everyone regarded him and his family as members of the Steel Seal Clan who had betrayed humanity.”
"In order not to implicate his family, Kim Ji-seok confessed to being a member of the 'steel stamp tribe' before his death and committed suicide to atone for his sins."
As Chang Weisi spoke, he handed Jin Zhixi's suicide note to Luo Congmin.
The above lengthy explanation details his mistakes and betrayal of humanity, demanding that the Earth International severely punish him, and informing everyone that it was his own child who reported him, and that his family had nothing to do with his being a member of the Steel Seal Clan.
Luo Congmin put the letter away, a hint of murderous intent flashing in his eyes.
"After this is over, I will make the others pay the price."
Chang Weisi smiled helplessly.
"It's not that easy, Xiaomin. The power of the masses is immense. They don't need the truth; they just want an explanation that matches their suspicions. We've already lost this war of public opinion."
However, Luo Congmin shook his head.
"No, we haven't lost yet, we still have a way."
"any solution?"
"Since the main contradiction in this matter is the suspicion that there are members of the Steel Seal Clan in the Space Force, let's find a group of people who are absolutely not members of the Steel Seal Clan to take over the three fleets. That way, the Earth International will have nothing to say, right?"
Chang Weisi's eyes lit up; he immediately understood Luo Congmin's intention.
"Prepare to awaken the last three batches of officers reinforcing the Future Plan; it's time for them to make their debut!"
The order in which officers for the Reinforcement Future Project were awakened was in reverse chronological order. During the Great Depression, in order to suppress the remnants of the PDC, Fleet International had awakened batch after batch of Reinforcement Future Project officers. In order for them to be quickly deployed to the battlefield, the officers awakened were all those who had been dormant in recent years. The earlier the batch, the longer the awakening time.
Now, only the last three batches of reserve officers remain to reinforce future plans.
A person who has been in hibernation for many years is about to be awakened.
“Zhang Beihai…”
Chang Weisi had not seen Zhang Beihai for almost a hundred years.
Since he went into hibernation, Chang Weisi has often talked about this subordinate. At first, he didn't understand Zhang Beihai's intentions, but now he has guessed some of them.
He was curious about what circumstances would prompt Zhang Beihai to have such a plan.
Zhang Beihai's wife and children are long gone.
Lin Xuan originally said she could provide them with cell division drugs or hibernation, allowing them to live for two hundred years.
But Zhang Beihai's wife refused.
She said she knew Zhang Beihai was going to do something big, something earth-shattering, which is why he resolutely severed his ties with her.
I cannot be a burden to Zhang Beihai, nor can I give him any worries, so the best outcome is for them to leave this world together.
Only in this way can we live up to Zhang Beihai's choice.