This was only the first meeting, and not long after the meeting ended, Southern Star and the Imperial Council publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the results. When the Ye Tian Empire was ruled by the imperial family, the entire empire seldom spoke out publicly, and even if they did, they used ambiguous language and rarely expressed their emotions directly.
So, after receiving the signal, the whole Ye Tian Empire was excited. For a while, the Li Sheng Alliance also received a lot of pressure from home and abroad.
No matter what the outcome of this meeting was, it was bound to have a profound impact on the Empire and the stars. After the first meeting, the agenda continued for several more days. However, unlike the first meeting, the subsequent meeting wouldn’t be like the first one, calling all the heavyweights of the two countries to attend, but rather they’d send different representatives to each meeting.
In between the meetings, Meng Jinhuai left the host planet and secretly flew to the test planet to conduct the last few unfinished experiments. This time, the experiments were much more confidential than the first one, and in order not to leave any loopholes, the Ye Tian Empire and the Ministry of Military Affairs also cooperated to revise Meng Jinhuai’s schedule.
Also because this test flight had accumulated a lot of experience, the division of labor was also very mature, even the Ye Tian Empire Mecha Institute only let part of the staff participate, the stars didn’t know that the test flight had begun.
The last test flight experiment took five hours, and two days before the experiment began, Duan Hengye came to the test star to prepare for it.
The overall difficulty of this test flight project wasn’t high, but the project was very intensive. This time, although Duan Hengye wasn’t as scared as the first experiment, he still constantly checked the experimental plan over and over again.
This time, the experiment, in general, was to save time. But the importance of the experiment was there, although the time was compressed, the quality of work couldn’t be reduced. So in these few days, Duan Hengye returned to his familiar busy mode.
The weather on the test star wasn’t good at this time, wearing a white lab coat, Duan Hengye stood by the window, frowning at the scene outside the building. Although as the designer of the mecha “Nanwei” he knew that the new mecha he designed could cope with all the bad interstellar weather, and the more such natural conditions occurred, the greater the significance for the mecha test flight. Even though his heart understood, but with the approach of the experimental time, Duan Hengye gently put his hands in his coat pockets and clenched it into fists……
At this time, the military staff who had just stayed in the preparation room came out of the door one after another. After seeing Duan Hengye standing by the window, Yu Xinran was obviously taken aback, then she smiled at him, “Professor Duan, why are you standing here?”
In fact, what Duan Hengye could do now was already done, after studying the weather, he stood by the window and started to stall. Now suddenly hearing Yu Xinran’s words, Duan Hengye finally turned around, he took his hands out of his pockets and turned around, “Nothing, I was thinking about the experiment later.”
“Oh, that.” Yu Xinran looked very relaxed. She waved her hand and walked quickly to Duan Hengye. When she came, the high-heeled shoes Yu Xinran wore knocked on the metal floor of the laboratory, making a loud noise.
“It’s okay, this time the experimental project is very basic, and it’s our marshal again.” In fact, at the beginning of the first few experiments, Yu Xinran was also very worried. But after watching several experiments, she was completely at ease with Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai.
Today Yu Xinran wore shoes with a very high heel, and when she walked up to Duan Hengye, they were only half a head apart. Yu Xinran naturally put her hand on Duan Hengye’s shoulder, and then said with a big grin, “You and the Marshal are a perfect match, don’t worry.”
While Yu Xinran was talking, the door of the mecha preparation room behind Duan Hengye opened once again, the metal door sliced through the ground without making a sound. However, the sound of footsteps behind him alerted Duan Hengye that someone was coming towards his position.
Meng Jinhuai had changed his lab coat to this the black suit he wore the other time, at this time there were small dark blue lightning fast moving on the clothes, he looked very mysterious. Although Duan Hengye had seen Meng Jinhuai wearing experimental clothes many times, but he was always stunned.
Unlike Duan Hengye’s tense appearance, Meng Jinhuai now looked very natural and relaxed. At the moment when the door of the machine preparation room opened, Meng Jinhuai heard what Yu Xinran had just said. Although he didn’t know what the two people were talking about, it was clear that Meng Jinhuai agreed with her last sentence.
He walked over and then stood at Duan Hengye’s side without moving. After feeling the powerful aura from the Marshal, Yu Xinran removed her hand from Duan Hengye’s shoulder, then pretended that nothing had happened and coughed gently.
“The experiment is now ready, the Marshal can now proceed with the test flight.”
Before Meng Jinhuai could say anything to Duan Hengye, a member of the military staff came up behind him. After hearing this, Meng Jinhuai gently patted Duan Hengye’s shoulder and then whispered in his ear, “Okay, I’m going to go for the test flight.”
This recent mecha test flight period was probably the longest period of time that Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai had worked together. Although the test flight was different from ordinary work, but after the two came together, the original tension and serious atmosphere would always instantly become warm, as if what Meng Jinhuai would do later, wasn’t a dangerous experimental flight but just an ordinary job.
Whenever he set off on a test flight, Meng Jinhuai would say this to Duan Hengye, and this time was no exception.
After they briefly spoke, Meng Jinhuai turned towards the side of the platform to prepare for the test walk, while Duan Hengye and other staff members returned to their positions.
The leather monitoring seat was always so cold, Duan Hengye touched the armrest, then looked toward the light screen. Although just now the mood was still slightly apprehensive, the experiment had after all been carried out for so long, Duan Hengye was very confident in the results. After returning to the monitoring position, he sat down and then began to concentrate on the work that he was expecting together with everyone else in a while.
Once again, the huge mecha appeared outside the viewport.
After a careful scan of the red light, the mecha flew out of the immediate area.
The staff who came to participate in the experiment today were basically the backbone of the military and the research institute, five hours of work with the tacit understanding of everyone, the efficiency was extremely high.
The data on the experimental screen in front of Duan Hengye changed rapidly, because this experimental project was particularly intensive, they had to be highly concentrated in order to keep up with the task progress.
As the chief controller, Duan Hengye didn’t have to keep an eye on the experimental data this time, he kept watching the surveillance video outside the mecha. He didn’t know if it was because of the intensive experimental program, but time seemed to pass extraordinarily fast this time. When the mecha reappeared outside the viewport, the scene immediately broke out in a burst of violent applause.
The staff who had been tense in the back row and concentrated their mental strength for five hours immediately stood up from the chair and began to hug.
After hearing the hot and boisterous sounds coming from behind, Duan Hengye finally reacted to the fact that the experiment was now officially over.
……
However, unlike the dazed look at the end of the first experimental flight, after seeing everyone’s reaction, Duan Hengye also stood up along with them. Su Mingge, the vice president of the research institute, instantly ran to Duan Hengye from nowhere and then gave him a big hug.
“You worked hard …… congratulations!” Su Mingge was a very emotional person, Duan Hengye could hear a few choked sobs.
Although Su Mingge didn’t participate heavily in the design of the top mecha, and only had some departmental meetings with Duan Hengye, he had been in the Imperial Mecha Research Institute for many years. At the beginning when Su Mingge entered the Institute, Duan Hengye’s parents were still working here, it was the low point of the Institute at that time, but Duan Hengye’s parents gave him the confidence to continue to compete in the industry and build his career.
When he met the original owner before, Su Mingge had been disappointed by some of his actions and thought that he was not worthy of the identity of the director of the institute. But as time passed day by day, Duan Hengye gradually adapted to being a director, and took the Institute in a better direction …… In fact, in these days, Su Mingge’s heart gradually softened.
And now, the birth of a new top mecha finally brought out his feelings.
Su Mingge understood the significance of the top-tier mecha to Duan Hengye, as well as its significance to the entire Institute, and even to Duan Hengye’s entire family.
This mecha wasn’t the result of Duan Hengye’s efforts alone, or his only inheritance and connection with his parents’ now. On a larger scale, in addition to personal feelings, this was also a testimony to the history of the industry.
Su Mingge couldn’t help but give Duan Hengye a big hug, and then Duan Hengye felt wetness on his shoulder.
Whether it was this life or the last, Duan Hengye never had the experience of coaxing people. After feeling the wet feeling on his shoulder, Duan Hengye first froze for a moment, then he froze and put his hand up, he patted Su Mingge’s shoulder and after thinking for a while, he said, “…thank you.”
After hearing him say the words “thank you”, Su Mingge’s face finally lifted from Duan Hengye’s shoulder, it was obvious that Su Mingge’s eyes were now very red and even slightly swollen. But after listening to Duan Hengye’s words, Su Mingge suddenly laughed.
“What do I have to thanked for? It’s all because of you.” He shook his head.
The mecha steadily stopped at its original position, a light sound came from the room behind the hall, and after a while the hatch behind it opened once again.
Meng Jinhuai appeared in front of everyone wearing the black lab coat. After seeing him enter, the staff who were cheering and hugging at the venue immediately cast their eyes to the door and started applauding.
The applause continued for several minutes until the military staff began to salute towards Meng Jinhuai, and only then did everyone quiet down. And by this time, Meng Jinhuai also stood up straight again, and then returned a military salute to everyone.
The scene quieted down again, then Meng Jinhuai spoke: “Thank you all for your recent cooperation …… from today, the new mecha will be officially in service.” This news sounded very simple, but in fact the meaning behind it was incomparably significant.
Unlike the last time when a grand ceremony was held before the mass-produced mechas were officially put into service, the secrecy of the top mecha this time was particularly well kept, and the virtual experiments as well as the test flights were very low-key. Now, instead of holding a ceremony for this matter like the last time, Southern Stars would simplify the whole process.
Right after the last test flight, the staff registered it directly on the website of the Ministry of Military Affairs, without wasting a second. Obviously things were urgent now, whether it was Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai or the entire Ye Tian Empire, they didn’t want to keep delaying on this matter.
Although the Starnet guessed that the flight experiment of the new mecha was only about sixty percent, there were still some mecha enthusiasts who went to refresh the relevant websites every day to see if anything new worthy of attention was happening.
The success wasn’t lost on them, and this time they finally found an interstellar event.
Not long after Meng Jinhuai came out of the mecha, the military ministry website updated the service list directly, and it was only at this time that people learned that while the meeting between the Ye Tian Empire and the Li Sheng Alliance hadn’t ended, on the other side, the Empire’s new mecha had already finished its experiments.
It was much faster than people thought, directly giving the alliance a surprise.
It was clear that the meeting hadn’t yet ended, but the strength between the two sides already had such a big gap. On one side, the people of the Ye Tian Empire were enthusiastic, while on the other side, the Alliance, which had been in the shadow continuously because of their defeat, became more and more dusty.
The simple result reached after the first meeting was obviously no longer going to satisfy the empire.
Although it was only a small piece of information about the service of the mecha and the official website of the Ministry of Military Affairs was only 20 words long, the Internet was completely boiling up. Especially the citizens of the empire, they kept speaking out, trying to get the alliance to make greater compensation concessions.
Although Meng Jinhuai was still on the test flight star, the process of the meeting there didn’t come to a halt. Both sides had been cartwheeling the same thing for the past few days, but with the news of the new mecha in service, even the atmosphere of the meeting had visibly changed.
After the test flight was over, Meng Jinhuai returned to the planet where the meeting was held a day later.
From the meeting, it could be seen that the attitude of the Li Sheng Alliance had obviously become much more moderate, and they wanted to go back to the first meeting and agree to the compensation demand made by the Empire at that time. But unfortunately, with the appearance of the new mecha, the Empire no longer wanted to give in. They didn’t want to just get the ordinary reparations, and the return of the lost planets before – now that the Empire had the force to rely on, they wanted to get even more benefits.
Because of the change in attitude of the Ye Tian Empire, the Alliance, which had been more hardened, also began to seek breathing room.
The meeting entered the countdown stage, and after several discussions, they finally signed a final agreement that in addition to reparations and resource replacement, the Alliance would return all the planets they had taken from the Empire in recent years. However, this return wasn’t a momentary matter, but would take thirty years, it could be said to be time-consuming.
Although the time line was very long, but for the Alliance, which had always been unrelenting, this was already a great concession.
In fact, people who knew more about the interstellar situation could see that the most important achievement this time wasn’t reparations or the return of the planet, but peace.
The impact of wa-r on both countries was particularly great, for example, the planet where the meeting was being held was on the border, so the economy hadn’t been able to develop. Now the situation of peace coupled with economic reparations was enough to call a series of planets in the Empire back to pre-w-ar levels, or even beyond that.
At the time of the final signing of the agreement, Duan Hengye also came to the planet, just like those previous meetings were broadcast live for the whole world, this final signing ceremony was also reported for the interstellar.
Duan Hengye didn’t seem to want to come early, his assistant Ye Pu set his arrival time at half an hour before the start of the meeting, this time was slightly rushed. By the time Duan Hengye arrived at the planet, most of the guests attending the event had already arrived.
Today, in order to participate in this event, the military department had prepared a formal outfit for Duan Hengye. Now the meeting was held during the summer on the planet, Duan Hengye was wearing a linen texture beige suit, it looked very cool, but the event was very formal, so the clothing didn’t look very casual.
Just like before the first meeting, many reporters were waiting outside the hall, Duan Hengye just came out and saw the filming instrument surrounding the hover car.
Perhaps affected by the small size of the venue, the reporter shooting area was very close to where the hovercraft landed. As soon as Duan Hengye got off the hovercraft, he saw a bunch of people surrounding him.
But just when he was hesitantly planning to say hello to everyone before going in, he suddenly saw Meng Jinhuai, who was already inside the conference room, walking out quickly. The marshal came and took Duan Hengye’s hand, then without waiting for the reporters to react, the two walked directly into the conference room.
In general, they were very fast, which caught the reporters off guard.
Although Meng Jinhuai and Duan Hengye’s aura was visible, their enthusiasm for new news reports wouldn’t be affected by this. When Duan Hengye just stood here, in fact, some reporters had already planned to ask him directly, but who asked Marshal to appear so timely? It didn’t take long for the two people to disappear under the camera of the reporter, leaving them no chance to speak.
After passing through the human wall formed by the reporters at the entrance, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai appeared in a corridor in the conference room hall.
Duan Hengye noticed that maybe the economic conditions of the planet weren’t good, and the room was archaic. At this time, the space he was in was very similar to the general banquet hall on the earth, rather than high-tech products appearing everywhere.
By the way, there was no special architectural structure here. The whole structure looked very simple, but this decoration style was hard for Duan Hengye to adapt to.
After entering, Meng Jinhuai suddenly turned around and looked at him, “Has Ah Heng seen the news on Starnet recently?”
Hearing this, Duan Hengye nodded, “What’s wrong?”
Because only the two of them were talking in the corridor now, the echoes kept floating in the ears even after a sentence fell. After hearing Duan Hengye’s rhetorical question, Meng Jinhuai didn’t answer positively, he smiled a little, “Do you think if you were the chief of the Li Sheng Alliance, or if you were a person of the Alliance, what would you do in this situation?”
In fact, Duan Hengye wouldn’t normally find anything wrong with this matter, but he had kept an eye on the news about this matter, he knew that this matter had a very big impact on the second half of the novel’s plot. So after hearing Meng Jinhuai’s question, Duan Hengye first thought for a moment, “They definitely won’t be willing to pay such a large compensation …… so I think that they might choose to counterattack when the empire’s strength has not fully recovered… …”
Hearing Duan Hengye’s words, Meng Jinhuai froze for a moment, he didn’t realize that Duan Hengye would actually think of this.
Meng Jinhuai slowly raised his head, which was lowered just now, and he looked out the window not far away, “You’re not wrong, what we have to wait for now is not that the Alliance will slowly return the stars that belong to us one by one within these decades. Rather, it is all the more important that we should be nervous to prepare for their final attack.”
Because of this meeting, the whole empire was very excited for a while.
But at the very same time, the military ministry was already preparing for the Alliance’s counterattack. In fact, after listening to Meng Jinhuai’s words, Duan Hengye couldn’t help but admire him a little.
Duan Hengye made these guesses, relying entirely on the plot speculations later in the book. But Meng Jinhuai was different, he actually made such an accurate prediction with his knowledge of the other side, and a few days of meetings.
Duan Hengye slowly moved his eyes away ……
In this way, it seemed that the time of the final battle originally written in the book was bound to be advanced.