Starting as a Wallfacer, his defection to the Three-Body Problem shocked the world.

Chapter 432 Military Reorganization Movement

"Marshal Cao, the President has been waiting for you for a long time."

Cao Mir did not respond immediately. He stood before the quantum-protected blast door of the central ring, interstellar dust still clinging to the joints of his power armor. As the automatic cleaning beam swept across, the ice crystals from the Kuiper Belt refracted into fragments of iridescent light in the artificial atmosphere.

"The Secretary-General personally greeted him; it seems the Presidential Palace has been quite relaxed lately?"

The armored helmet slid into the neckplate like liquid mercury, revealing Cao Mir's excessively youthful face. He deliberately looked over Yu Tuan's shoulder towards the garrison fleet suspended outside the transparent dome—the newly painted Arbitrator insignia were blindingly bright in the sunlight.

It's not surprising that Yu Tuan is here. Since the attack, Bi Yunfeng and Ai AA, who are only nominally a couple, have been completely at odds. Even if their relationship hasn't deteriorated to the point that outsiders think, for the sake of the political party they represent, the couple should try to minimize their meetings at this time.

Therefore, Yu Tuan was reinstated as a presidential assistant. This move can be seen as sending a signal to some conservative officials in the already turbulent local government that Bi Yunfeng still approves of all the policies implemented during President Luo Congmin's term.

The implication is that this is to stabilize morale and give Cao Mier more time to complete the "Four-Six Reorganization".

The so-called "46 Reorganization" refers to a plan proposed by a group of councilors in the central government of the Ring Center in early 2346, under the deliberate guidance of Bi Yunfeng, to reorganize the army. The general idea of ​​this plan was to integrate the independent armies originally owned by various departments into a single fleet.

That is, the original three major fleets, such as the Galaxy Fleet which suffered the most heavy losses in the Human Alliance War, were incorporated into Luo Congmin's original personal guard Sun and Moon Fleet, forming an expeditionary fleet.

Because the Star River Fleet possesses a large number of heavy weapons, it is not good at long-distance migration operations. Therefore, it was integrated with the remnants of the original Star Ring Group fleet to form the Garrison Fleet, which is used to escort the entire Ring World and the external Star Ring Group.

It is worth mentioning that Bi Yunfeng originally thought of following Luo Congmin's example and creating his own personal guard fleet. However, to his embarrassment, the gap in prestige between himself and Luo Congmin was too great. This proposal was opposed by nearly half of the council members at the level of the Central Council.

Bi Yunfeng was speechless. When he launched the coup, these people all said they would be absolutely loyal to him and have no other intentions. But now that he had become president, they were afraid of his growing power and were trying to squeeze his power space from all angles.

One member of parliament even directly stated on the spot: "Back then, Luo Congmin was able to have a personal guard fleet because some people in the Earth Alliance had been eyeing the presidency, and Luo Congmin's personal prestige was enough to subdue everyone. Now that no one in the Earth Alliance covets the presidency, if Bi Yunfeng insists on forming a personal guard, it will only alienate other Earth Alliance officials from him."

Bi Yunfeng had no way to refute these words. They not only insulted his personal governance ability as president, but also condemned those who had joined the coup as traitors. He was immediately met with scorn and abuse from the members of parliament present.

In short, the plan to build a personal guard ultimately failed. Instead, after Yu Tuan was reinstated, he used his long-standing position in both the military and political spheres to form an Arbitrator Legion, which was incorporated into the garrison fleet to protect the central hub of the city.

The three fleets were reorganized into two separate structures, one in front and one behind, and both under the unified management of the central command. Within these structures were numerous legions, each managed by the original department heads who also served as legion commanders.

In other words, such reforms must be carried out step by step. The fact that departments have control over the military is something that existed during Luo Congmin's era. At that time, almost all the departments of the local alliance were Lin Party members. Even if they sometimes had different political views, they were generally of one mind.

As the councilor said, even though the power structure was so decentralized that she could be replaced at any time, no one dared to actually touch her. Even Bi Yunfeng only dared to have the idea of ​​usurping power after Luo Congmin stepped down.

Looking back at many of Luo Congmin's actions back then, it seems like he planted a time bomb in the presidential seat, and only when some fool sat in that position did he realize that he had bombs under his butt.

However, in retrospect, her actions are not unreasonable. After all, in the past, the reason for not being in line with the system was that the position would eventually be passed on to the next person. But now that lifespan is no longer the fundamental standard for determining the political winds, this operation seems to be protecting her own safety.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Cao Mir strode into the main entrance of the central hub of the ring. Whether he had forgotten or was simply arrogant, he didn't even remove his power armor.

The arbitrators on duty on both sides of the passageway wanted to step forward to stop them, but they retreated after being signaled by the eyes of the person behind Cao Mier.

This is something they shouldn't be getting involved in. Since Bi Yunfeng chose to concentrate military power in one person, he naturally has to bear the risks that come with doing so.

"coming?"

Upstairs, Bi Yunfeng saw the two people enter the room and got up to pour Cao Mier a cup of tea. Yu Tuan, seeing that Bi Yunfeng had no intention of pouring tea for him, didn't say anything. He took a cup himself, filled it, and then sat back on the sofa, watching the uncle and nephew with great interest.

Upon seeing this, Cao Mier couldn't help but frown slightly.

"Yu Tuan, wait outside for a while. Cao Mier and I have something to talk about." Bi Yunfeng looked at Yu Tuan and gestured for him to go out first, but Yu Tuan remained seated in his chair, seemingly not having heard what he said at all.

After a long while, she turned her head again and looked at Bi Yunfeng with a smile.

"Mr. President, was this conversation between the two of you official or private? If it was private, I naturally shouldn't listen in here. However, if you two were meeting in your capacity as President and Marshal of the Space Force, then according to Article 7 of the 'Earth Federation Government Security Amendment,' any private meeting between officials of Level 4 or above that is not reported must be recorded by the secretariat in its entirety."

“It’s a private matter, of course.” Bi Yunfeng looked somewhat displeased. Ever since this secretary-general took office as deputy, he had been trying to outdo him in every way.

There were even rumors circulating that said, "The Secretary-General remains constant, while the President comes and goes," which naturally made Bi Yunfeng very dissatisfied.

But he had no choice but to rely on this woman to help him stabilize the political situation. In a sense, Yu Tuan now represented the will of that Earthling, and even his legitimate status as the president of the Earth Alliance needed her help to solidify.

“Since it is a private matter, I naturally do not need to record it, but…” Yu Tuan stood up and took a small sip of the tea in his cup.

"But if I remember correctly, Marshal Cao did not report to the central command of the Huanzhong Bureau this time. With such a sudden return, if something happens to the President after I leave, it will be hard to explain."

"What do you mean?"

Cao Mier glanced coldly at Yu Tuan. He knew a little about this man, but he couldn't understand why a former presidential assistant who had lost his military power would be so feared by these people.

"It's nothing, Marshal Cao. I was just doing my duty. If you think I did something wrong, you can complain to the Central Command and have them remove me from my post!"

"Alright, alright, why bother arguing with a child?"

Seeing that things were getting out of hand, Bi Yunfeng quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

"Let her listen if she wants; it's not really a confidential matter anyway."

Only then did the matter end.

"Let's get down to business. I've come here to report on the recent military reorganization." Cao Mier sighed, his face showing some worry.

"This is completely different from what I learned in military school. I originally thought that reorganizing the army was just a matter of structure, but when I actually did it, I found that it was not like that at all."

Upon hearing this, Bi Yunfeng nodded slightly. In fact, he had probably already guessed what the other party was referring to.

"The troops are too heterogeneous, and the personnel composition of this fleet is very complex. It is naturally very difficult to integrate them in a short period of time. However, for the time being, the Earth Alliance will not have any large-scale fleet battles for at least the next 50 years. This period of time is just enough for you to integrate and reorganize the army."

Cao Mir shook his head.

“My Uncle Bi, it’s easy for you to say that when you’re not in the same boat. You don’t know these people. They have different beliefs, belong to different departments, and in the past they might even have been enemies. But these things are not the biggest factor. The biggest factor is age.”

Bi Yunfeng and Yu Tuan, who were standing to the side, were taken aback at first, but then understood.

Indeed, they overlooked that point.

"The Earth Alliance established a rule from the very beginning that immortals are not allowed to hold official positions, and this is naturally also true in the military."

"However, this situation cannot really be prohibited. The appearance of the immortality potion is still too tempting. Even if the side effect is to prevent people from having children, there are still people willing to try it one after another."

After saying this, Bi Yunfeng and Yu Tuan suddenly stared at Cao Mier. When the latter saw the strange looks in their eyes, he was first stunned, and then he was furious.

"What are you thinking? My father almost ran for the Swordholder back then, so the Earth Alliance would naturally have his deoxyribose sample."

Upon hearing this, the two of them finally showed expressions of "I see" on their faces.

“These immortals used to be secretly distributed among the various fleets, using their military titles to avoid scrutiny. Now that the army has been reorganized, I have discovered that there are more of them than I imagined.”

Cao Mier sighed and held up three fingers.

"Thirty percent, at least thirty percent of the officers in the entire Space Force are immortals. What's worse, these people are forming cliques, and the antagonism between the two groups is becoming more and more obvious. One side calls the other side short-lived ghosts, while the other side calls them remnants of the Common Era, saying that if it weren't for them hindering the development of human civilization, how could the Trisolarans have been able to invade Earth back then?"

"Nonsense."

“They were truly outrageous, so I executed those people on the spot.”

Bi Yunfeng and his companion were somewhat shocked by the result, but they also felt it was reasonable, since they had turned a blind eye to the matter before.

Unfortunately, most of the Lin Party members are immortals. To completely solve this problem, the entire Lin Party would have to be dismantled from the political core of the local alliance.

"Can't we conduct a step-by-step investigation of these people? Since they took the immortality potion, we can naturally find out when they took the drug, right? We don't need to worry about those people from the Deterrence Era. Their situation is somewhat understandable, and the Earth Alliance hadn't been established yet. We can't use the sword of today to kill officials of the previous dynasty."

"As for those who come after, they are truly malicious. There is no need for such people to remain in the army. Those who should be dismissed should be dismissed, and those who should be demoted should be demoted. This way, we can reduce some of the gossip in the army."

Bi Yunfeng's suggestion seemed very feasible, but Cao Mier shook his head slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

"It won't work; the resistance is greater than any of us anticipated."

"Is it because of the Star Ring Group?"

At this moment, Yu Tuan, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.

"Yes."

"This reorganization of the Fourth and Sixth Armies did indeed incorporate a large portion of the original fleet of the Star Ring Group, and these people are the most difficult to deal with."

"The Earth Federation does not allow immortals to hold official positions, but the Star Ring Group does not have such restrictions. These people were originally opposed to the Earth Federation. I had previously thought of breaking them up and integrating them into small units to gradually divide them, but I did not expect their influence to be too great. The original plan was to use the fleet to assimilate their thinking, but now the opposite has happened and the fleet has been assimilated by them."

"I'm afraid... if we deal with them now, and the action is too extreme, it will backfire."

Upon hearing this, Bi Yunfeng was at a loss for what to do.

The three remained silent for a moment, but then Yu Tuan stood up and walked towards the door. The other two looked at him with questioning eyes.

“This matter… is beyond what we few can handle,” Yu Tuan said after much deliberation.

"I'm afraid we'll have to ask Luo Congmin."

Upon hearing this, the two looked at each other in bewilderment, but after thinking it over carefully, they also got up and followed Yu Tuan out.

Indeed, as the other party said, instead of pondering countermeasures here, it would be more practical to ask for ready-made answers directly. After all, in terms of political skills, apart from Luo Congmin, there really isn't another person like him in the entire Earth Alliance.

Even her father, Luo Ji, and that Mr. Lin Xuan who only knew how to kill, couldn't compare to this. The fact that Luo Congmin was able to stay in the presidency for so long speaks volumes about her methods.