Under the many eyes from the audience, An Lei saw how this chap was pestering her as he lied over in her direction, and for a moment, she did not know what to do; she could only hold onto her forehead as if she was having a headache.
Bernadotte nodded towards Tian Xing Jian: “First Lieutenant, the mission this time is more dangerous. We require you to go to the rear enemy lines to save someone…”
Hearing that he had to go to the rear enemy lines, Tian Xing Jian immediately trembled as he could feel his second brother below worrying for the future. Just as he was about to reject, he saw An Lei right by his side, causing his mouth to reply unconsciously, “Yes, General!”
Almost at the same time, the flustered An Lei shouted out, “No!”
Seeing how everyone’s gaze turn over to her strangely, An Lei’s face became red as she replied bashfully, “I… I am saying that such an important mission should be given to the commandos. Tian… First Lieutenant is merely a staff officer… he…”
Bernadotte laughed out loud before waving his hand: “Major An Lei, you are thinking too much. It’s precisely because of this that First Lieutenant Tian is indeed the most appropriate person to be sent. Regardless of whether it is his escapes in the rear enemy lines or the experiences he had with fighting against the Myth Legion, First Lieutenant Tian is second to none. Maybe you did not know about that yet, right? That special forces company commander who had brought over 200 captive soldiers without having access to any transport, weapons, and equipment and successfully escaped from the rear enemy lines is precisely our First Lieutenant Tian.”
An Lei had a look of disbelief as she widened her beautiful eyes at the fatty beside her. The fair and delicate hand of hers covered her mouth once again as her heart had a truly complex feeling and was full of astonishment. “Oh gosh. This fool is the Federation hero? How is that possible?”
Bernadotte did not care about how shocked An Lei was; he laughed at Tian Xing Jian: “First Lieutenant Tian, no matter how we think about this mission, you are most likely to be the only candidate who could do it. Come, let me explain it to you.”
Fatty was cursing in his heart, ‘What kind mission is it that only I can do? I think it’s more like you, old fogey, is doing this in passing.’
Bernadotte poured a cup of tea before passing it over to Tian Xing Jian. “We require you to save this person. Honestly speaking, it is the famous general from the Gyaca Woods Empire—Russell!”
Fatty doubled over in shock as he questioned back, “Russell?”
Bernadotte nodded. “We believe that Russell has most likely been under house arrest by the Empire because of the news regarding how he might be the leader of the Freedom Battlefront has been transmitted over by 4th Research Unit Director Kadur. Kadur is similarly a traitor who was brought over by the Gyaca Woods Empire!”
There were some words which need not be explained by Bernadotte and everyone would understand. When the Federation Military Intelligence Department received the emissary from Russell, they had obtained from the emissary a list detailing the name of spies within the front line commanding department over at Miracolo. The intelligence department immediately underwent detailed investigations over these people the moment they received it. When everything was clear, this list of names had been given to the military embassy as they prepared themselves to capture these people.
However, when Bernadotte received the news, the embassy decided to keep things under wrap temporarily because with the current situation over at Miracolo, they could very possibly require these revealed spies to transmit some forged fake information back to the Gyaca Woods Empire.
Towards this suggested combat plan given by the emissary, the Federation especially emphasized on it. However, they decided to think one step further. If the Freedom Battlefront’s leader wasn’t Russell, then after the combat plans had been confirmed, the Federation would immediately capture the spy who knew of the news so as to protect the leader from the Freedom Battlefront.
However, if Russell was truly the Freedom Battlefront leader, then after the Federation President’s Office and the Supreme Headquarters weighed the pros and cons, they decided on another set of plans that was political in nature!
An Lei was the person who brought this set of plans over to the Miracolo forward command before clearly doing a battle situation analysis to prove the identity of Russell. Once Tian Xing Jian mentioned that Peirce’s Sign, several generals understood that the political plans had started being implemented.
Russell was indubitably a military genius; however, this genius’ wisdom regarding politics could not match up with those politicians mired in the center of political maelstrom for a long period of time in the Federation.
In the eyes of a politician, there were no friends, only benefits! Russell was truly too formidable. From the start of the war, the Federation Army had, because of his command, suffered too much losses in military power and land, reaching a stage where they could not account to the citizens! Most importantly, from the start, the combat plan of invading the Federation had been crafted precisely by this military genius!
If he was not the leader of the Freedom Battlefront, then everything could still be discussed; however, if he was, then he might be playing his moves on the chess of politics, thinking everything would go according to his whim and fancy!
For such a person, instead of leaving him safely in the Gyaca Woods Empire to command the army to invade the Federation and winning favor from both sides, why not just forcefully pull him over!? With him in the palms of the Federation, they could utilise his military expertise on the Federation soldier, preventing him from being able to act as a rat on both extremes. In addition, the Freedom Battlefront’s weapon and equipment in the rear enemy lines would also completely fall into the hands of the Federation.
Also, with Russell’s reputation in the Gyaca Woods Empire, the news regarding his betrayal to the Federation was absolutely a huge setback to the Gyaca Woods Empire, which was another big victory for the Leray Federation! In war, the rise and fall of the public sentiments could very well push the President and the military into a new point of extreme!
The final decision was actually set by General Bernadotte! Russell’s control of military tactics was not a degree which the Federation officers could attain. This scheme of him sending himself to death had been disguised as a killing move! If not for Tian Xing Jian, who saw that sign and made a deduction, then victory would be truly something that would be difficult to grasp. For a moment, Bernadotte was even prepared to redeploy the soldiers! His vision was completely enticed by Russell over to the Garo Mountain regions! If they did not see through this Russell’s plan, then right now, the Federation Army would have long been defeated. Thinking about this point, regardless of whether it had been Bernadotte or the other generals, they could feel their backs soaked with cold sweat!
Once and twice could be considered as luck, but what if in the future, this dangerous cooperation continued occurring a few times? He could continue wearing his halo of being a famous general and become a first grade citizen of the Imperial Army, while the Federation would continue to struggle in agony!
The Freedom Battlefront was a resistance organization with no governance experience. Their political experiences would never reach that of those politicians who governed the Federation for several hundreds of years [1]; the Freedom Battlefront was truly too green in this aspect. Since they were an ally to the Federation, then it was fine to pull this ally over to do things without having to worry about being betrayed because they had the same enemies. However, towards the politicians of the Federation, there were no allies who would never betray the other! They would only make a decision according to the advantages the Federation could acquire. Once the benefits of betraying exceeded that of not betraying, then they would betray! And that was how it became a proposal that was placed on the President’s table!
From the point Tian Xing Jian finished his deduction, the conclusion for Russell had already been decided! Bernadotte deliberately spoke of how the 3rd and 9th Outer Space Fleets, who were using the public starfields, had long reached the Leray Central Starfield and could use the space warp points at any moment to reinforce the Newton Galaxy, precisely because he wanted Kadur to pass on this news as well as the news of Russell to the Gyaca Woods Empire. Once the matter over Russell was revealed, the outer space battle had similarly a thorn dug by the Federation! The news regarding the 3rd and 9th Fleets was something which they could simply disregard, and the plans made by Russell himself to attack the 2nd United Fleet was something the Empire’s commanding officer of the fleet had to consider before taking action.
Tian Xing Jian continued hearing the orders by Bernadotte in puzzlement: “Whether we save him or kill him, we absolutely must not let him return to the Gyaca Woods Empire alive!”
[1] I have to say that it is more of experiences passed down from generations to generations and not a single group of people who lived for that amount of time in case anyone is thinking about that.