Darkstone Code

"How dare they!"

In the Ruler's Hall, Emperor Gafura kicked over the lamp stand beside the throne. The pure gold lamp stand rolled down the steps, and people scrambled out of its way.

At this moment, his expression was extremely ferocious and twisted. The First Fleet was almost entirely annihilated, and this didn't happen during a war. When he first heard the news, he thought someone was joking with him.

But once he confirmed the truth of the matter, he fell into a frenzy.

What made him angry wasn't the fleet's annihilation, but their defeat.

Once the invincible fleet is defeated, the nations always crushed by Gafura would start to move, threatening Gafura's unprecedentedly dominant international status.

Previously, Gafura had used their invincible fleet to negotiate numerous diplomatic cooperations... No, this wasn't diplomacy; it's more like a forceful military threat.

Now all of this was shattered by the Federation. The Federation proved that they've found a method to restrict the invincible fleet, and Gafura has lost the initiative.

If those countries that suffered great losses under coercion of force actively unite around the Federation, forming a new international interest group with the Federation at its core, they would qualify to challenge Gafura's global status.

Gafura isn't a vast nation; it's just an island, without abundant inland resources, lacking sufficient strategic depth. Once Gafura loses all overseas interests, their war potential would be drastically compressed.

The purpose of Gafura's frenzied attack in this world war wasn't unresolvable hatred towards those nations, but rather seeking a solution to domestic dilemmas.

Territorial expansion might be the best solution; they were also trying to acquire more territory through concessions, which wouldn't overly provoke, rather than brutally seizing.

That only causes irreversible hatred, and the resistance from the lower society would be greater, which doesn't align with their current interests.

But now, the foundation of all this has lost its advantage along with the First Fleet's defeat. Emperor Gafura could already envision those appalling little insects swiftly sending diplomatic requests.

"Send the Second and Third Fleets to besiege the Federation's fleet, bombard their homeland!" the emperor shouted, pacing up and down the throne steps, "Attack their homeland and let them repent in the flames for their foolish acts!"

Besides Emperor Gafura's voice, there was no other sound in the hall, no one responded.

Until his emotions settled a bit, the Minister of Defense stepped forward, "Your Majesty, until we resolve the issue of the Belian's new torpedoes, we don't possess the capability for a long-term war with them."

"Furthermore, if you decide to start this war, Gafura will inevitably be burned to ash; they already hold the sword to slay the dragon."

The Minister of Defense bent over, "I'm sorry for portraying us as an Evil Dragon and the Federation as dragon-slaying heroes, but that's the current international situation."

"The tougher we were to the outside world before, now those attitudes would transform into evil inflicted upon us. What we need most now isn't to retaliate against the Federation but to stabilize our remaining interests and our international status!"

"Compared to avenging against the Federation, the stability of Amelie Province is what truly needs our attention!"

The Minister of Defense's face looked grim but also serious. Seeking accountability after the event or starting a retaliatory military action is worthless and meaningless.

Retaliatory military action might even worsen the damage to Gafura's navy, making things look worse, losing even their last capital.

Thus, in the Minister of Defense's view, issues with the Federation are better left to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to handle, to recover disadvantages through diplomacy.

And their real focus should be on suppressing the unrest in Amelie Province. As long as Amelie Province is stable, they could continuously obtain abundant resources from the region, preparing sufficient strength and foundation for the next war.

Emperor Gafura threw his water cup at the Minister of Defense. Even though the cup was made of gold, the Minister of Defense didn't dodge.

Dodging the emperor's fury at this moment would only further enrage him. He took the hit directly, and the cup hit his calf, making him gasp for air, but it calmed the emperor down.

"This loss is entirely due to severe delays in intelligence," the emperor spoke. The Minister of the Army stepped forward with his head lowered, "I won't punish you for anything but will allocate more funds. I have only one request."

"From today, I want you to send the Empire's best intelligence personnel to the Federation. I want to know everything about them, military capability, technological developments... every cutting-edge information!"

The Minister of the Army bowed, "As you wish, Your Majesty."

Emperor Gafura nodded, "Also, notify all shipyards that, besides continuing the construction plans of three battleships, handle other production plans as possible. Doesn't someone want to buy our ships?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!", someone replied affirmatively.

"Then let them pay, and we will continue to build for them, or dispose of those unfinished ones in our hands to them..."

Currently, their construction plans are based on the understanding of military technology before this naval battle. Now, facts have proven that these warships have huge hidden dangers, and it makes no sense to continue building them.

Of course, battleships are somewhat different. Battleships have enough load capacity, so most battleships have extended attachment slots. They can completely make slight modifications to add protective measures below the waterline for battleships to prevent torpedo attacks.

But other warships cannot, so it's simply better to sell them.

The calm Emperor Gafura began to show his excellent political skills, arranging matters systematically. The Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister also shared part of the mental workload with him.

Until finally, Emperor Gafura suddenly hesitated, "…I've always forgotten to ask, why did we suddenly have to fight a naval battle with the Federation?"

The Minister of the Navy was silent, but others' eyes had already turned to him.

The Gafura system is somewhat different from the Federation; there is no public election system here, and the selection of officials comes from two aspects.

The first is the nomination voting system, where some nominations are given when the predecessor leaves office, and then a small range of voting decides the outcome.

This appointment system mostly appears at the middle and lower levels of the Gafura government. The factor that determines whether a nominee can succeed mainly depends on whether this successor belongs to a faction, as faction issues are particularly severe in the Gafura system.

The second way applies to the middle and upper levels, which is the emperor's appointment system. The emperor can directly appoint an official, even if this official has never done the work he or she is required to do, as long as the emperor trusts him or her.

The former is too far from top rulers, but the latter are things that happen in the Ruler's Hall. Once someone has gained absolute trust in the emperor's eyes, he or she is very likely to hold a position for a lifetime.

Living in this world naturally means having friends but also enemies. When the emperor asked about this matter, those who usually didn't get along with the Minister of the Navy turned their eyes to him.

Emperor Gafura keenly noticed all of this, but he pretended not to know. "No one is speaking?", his gaze swept across the ministers, and the ministers he gazed upon all lowered their heads to show submission, "I will find out..."

He paused while speaking, "... what is the next topic we are going to discuss?", he shifted the topic.

At noon, while dining, he summoned the officials from the Special Investigation Department, "Go and investigate the reasons why the Minister of the Navy incited us to fight this naval battle with the Federation..."

Meanwhile, the hurriedly returned Minister of the Navy went into the basement of his residence, opened a safe, inside which there was a phone known only to him; the line came from outside his residence, and no one would know that this number was actually in use by him.

He dialed a very special number, and after a few seconds, he said softly, "Get rid of Preton as soon as possible, otherwise we will all be in great danger..."

"Also, get the data on the Federation's submarines and new torpedoes as soon as possible, only then can I get through this crisis!"

If he can obtain the various parameters of submarines and new torpedoes, the Imperial Institute has the possibility of reverse-engineering, which is also a huge achievement.

It's just that the person on the other end of the phone seemed a bit puzzled in tone, "You must be very anxious, so you didn't have time to watch TV..."

The Minister of the Navy immediately hung up the phone and turned on the TV. At this time, the news being broadcasted on TV was covering the naval battle that happened, and also mentioning the things the Minister of the Navy wanted.

Submarine data and new torpedo data...

No one could imagine that the Federation would list all this data, throwing every country in the world into a kind of frenzy. As long as these data are available, reverse engineering can be conducted.

Even if they cannot directly replicate the submarines and new torpedoes that determined the outcome of this naval battle, they can achieve significant progress in relevant research fields!

How arrogant the Federation is, having just defeated the Gafura Royal Navy, they dare to publicly release the data so ostentatiously. Aren't they afraid at all?

They are definitely not afraid, because these data, in some sense, are all true.

In other words, at the current stage, these data are too advanced.

It's like asking someone to run before they have learned to walk, apart from constantly falling, they simply cannot do it.

But military technology research is not as simple as running, failing is not as easy as falling to the ground. Every failure means a massive waste of resources, meaning they are getting further down the wrong path!