Yuna grabbed Tang Long and said, "My lord, this is very good. The title and military rank are calculated completely according to the real meritorious service. I believe everyone will recognize the accuracy of this ranking." Seeing that Tang Long wanted to speak, Yuna took the first step Said: "You don't have to worry about those officials and officers and soldiers. Those of us who are leaders have been downgraded so many levels. It is impossible for them to say anything after being downgraded."
"But, isn't it strange? We have occupied so many planets, how could there be so few school-level officers?" Tang Long said eagerly.
Everyone was stunned for a moment when they heard this. Yes, after occupying so many planets, at least several generals would appear according to their merits. Why are there only three pitiful school-level officers now? Is there something wrong with the computer
Sally suddenly remembered something and smiled: "My lord, have you forgotten? The troops occupying so many planets are all white whale warships."
Tang Long said puzzledly: "That's right, so many planets were brought down by Beluga warships, how could no one become a general according to the merits..." Tang Long finally remembered and shouted: "My God! Those who drive the white whale battleship are all robots!"
The girls were relieved when they heard this. Yes, the robots who made these great achievements are all robots. The information of these robots is not in the file, so of course there will be no officers.
"But how do I explain it to the soldiers? Could it be that robots are the ones who have made great contributions to us?" Tang Long said distressedly.
After thinking about it for a while, Sally said: "You can say that the mercenaries of Miss Tang Xing who have made great contributions to us are all rewarded with money instead of military ranks, or you can say that the white whale battleship is your personal guard, Military merit is calculated separately."
Yuna interrupted and said: "The problem of titles and military ranks may not be a problem because we are all downgraded. But their wages will also drop significantly in this way, which may have a major impact on our people's livelihood. In order to solve this problem , I suggest, my lord, that you increase the salary of these military ranks and titles, so that they can still receive their original salary after being downgraded."
Li Wu followed up and said: "Yes, this is beneficial. It shows that it is very difficult for us to promote our titles and military ranks, which ensures the preciousness and authority of the titles and military ranks. It will not be like the previous Wanluo Federation, where ten-year-olds The brat actually hangs around with the rank of major general. And the salary has been greatly increased, which has laid the foundation for the importance of titles and military ranks. Think about how a second lieutenant can receive the salary of a major in the Wulai Army. Shows how strong our military is."
After hearing this, Tang Long still hesitated and said: "Although this has solved most of the problems, what about the formation of the fleet? According to the computer's calculations, we only have two brigadier generals and three majors!"
Sally immediately said: "That's simple. The commander of an X battleship is a sergeant, the commander of 10 battleship squadrons is a warrant officer; the commander of 50 battleship squadrons is a second lieutenant; Captain or captain; 1,000 battleship brigade commanders are majors; 5,000 battleship division commanders are lieutenant colonels; 10,000 battleship commanders are colonel or brigadier generals?"
"All of them have been demoted by three ranks..." Tang Long thought for a while and said, "Let's just decide. Anyway, when we reach the rank of officer in the future, we can change it back."
"Then when is the lord going to announce this news?" Li Wu asked.
"You first publish the computer calculation of meritorious deeds, and then wait a few hours before publishing the browsing URL of the ranking of military and political officials, and at the same time broadcast the three-fold adjustment of the salary." Tang Long said.
When Li Wu nodded and was about to leave, Elsie who ran to check the computer said in surprise: "Look at the honor rankings, that Chen Kang has become a first-class honorary duke!" Everyone was stunned for a moment, Unexpectedly, this guy Chen Kang actually stood at the highest position.
Tang Long suddenly wowed: "Oh my god, the upgrade requirements of this computer program are too harsh, right? Chen Kang got us 6,000 X battleships and 120,000 high-level transport ships! Such a great contribution is actually Just a first-class honorary duke? At least it must be a first-class prince.”
Yuna nodded and said: "It's better to be strict, this shows that our knighthood evaluation is harsh, but it also shows that those who can obtain the canonization are the elite among the elite, and those shrewd businessmen will be difficult to be evaluated because of this, so they will Trade desperately to increase tax payments to increase your contribution.”
"Big sister, you are paying more and more attention to money." After nodding secretly, everyone made fun of Yuna.
Yuna also scolded with a smile: "Hey, if I, the Minister of Finance, don't try my best to make money, do I want to spend my money desperately? Be careful that I will deduct your salary!"
"Wow, we don't dare anymore. If you dare to deduct our wages, elder sister, we will go to the elder sister's parents to live and eat for a long time!" All the girls laughed. A piece of news that caused a stir among the soldiers and civilians in Tanglong's territory appeared on TV during their fight.
"Huh? What did you say on the TV? A meritorious promotion and evaluation system controlled by a central computer? What is this?" People who were drinking and chatting at the bar couldn't help asking the people around them when they saw the news on the TV.
"I'm not too sure. It seems to say that the titles of the government and the army will be promoted according to the real meritorious service. And it is legally confirmed that no one can promote anyone's titles without going through the meritorious system except for the supreme commander. and rank."
"Well, so there will be no such thing as leaving an official to buy an official? In this way, won't there be any competition for credit?"
"Probably not. All the credits will be recorded by the central computers all over the planet. Whoever made the credits will be clear, and even cheating can't be done. This trick is really great. I'm not afraid that those officials will not act honestly."
"Hehe, these things are good things for us ordinary people, but I wonder if those officials will object?"
"Oh, do you think we are practicing democracy here, against the policy of the Supreme Commander? Either you resign, or you go to other places, or you have to obey orders obediently."
"Well, if the higher authorities faithfully implement this system, our Datang will definitely become stronger and stronger."
"Of course, come on, cheers!"
"cheers!"
After reading the news, Tang Long found Li Wu excitedly, and when he saw her, he asked loudly: "What's going on? Didn't it mean that no one, including me, can be appointed at will? No one can be appointed arbitrarily?"
Li Wu didn't care about Tang Long's furious expression, and after she adjusted her glasses gracefully, she said in a calm tone: "My lord, in any country in the universe, except for those puppet countries, there is no country whose supreme commander does not have personnel appointments." Right. And although this computer merit promotion evaluation system is very good, it is only applicable in peacetime, not in wartime. If there is a crisis, the ability of a certain officer is needed to command the troops to break through, but this officer usually He didn't make any contribution at all, his military rank is very low, and the troops don't obey his orders at all, what do you think we should do at this time?" Li Wu continued without waiting for Tang Long's answer: "At this time, as long as you appoint him as the supreme commander of the troops , those troops will obey orders, and thus be out of danger. Do you still demand that no one, including yourself, be appointed arbitrarily?"
Tang Long stared blankly for a while with his mouth open, he understood that what Li Wu said was correct, and this kind of power of temporary appointment was needed in times of crisis. Tang Long thought about it for a while, and finally he could only scratch his head helplessly, apologized to Li Wu, and then turned around and ran away. That made Li Wu giggle endlessly.
The news not long ago only added a topic for everyone to talk about, and it didn't cause much shock, but when the website of the military and political ranking came out, it really caused a sensation.
In the same bar, when the URL appears, the bar's guests ask the owner to enter the URL to see. When the website of the government title appeared, everyone was stunned. They were surprised to find that the four high-ranking princes had dropped several ranks and became first-class marquises! There is actually only one minister of law left among the earls below, and all the others have been reduced to viscount barons and the like, and the lowest-ranking lords are even denser.
People in the army are not the first to look at the government website like ordinary people, but the army's website is the first thing they look at. Like other people, they are stupid at first sight. The two generals were demoted to brigadier generals, and the three brigadier generals were demoted to majors! The span of relegation is so great that their tongues stick out and they cannot be retracted. But when the soldier found his name, apart from being a little confused, he was not very excited, because there were two generals and three brigadier generals as role models. From a general to a brigadier general, from a brigadier general to a major, everyone realized that they would also be downgraded by about three levels. When he saw that his rank of captain had really changed to that of warrant officer, he was already mentally prepared and could only shake his head bitterly and sigh.
The officials who saw that they had been demoted so many levels did not dare to say anything. First, this is a dictatorial country, and there is nothing to say about what the supreme commander said. The second is that the four princes with the highest titles have all been directly reduced to first-class marquises, so what else can I say? But speaking of it, the positions of myself and these adults don't seem to have changed much, that is to say, except for the lowered title, my power is still the same as before, and since this is the case, there is nothing to say.
What makes these demoted personnel most calm, and even exciting is the news announced on that website: the salary of all titles and military ranks will be increased by three times on the original basis! It turned out that the salary was high enough, but now that it is tripled, I am afraid that the salary of people like myself is the highest in the universe, right? If this is the case, isn't our Tang Dynasty the number one power? Hey, just think about it.
Different from those military and political personnel, the merchants all carried out trade operations with red eyes, because they saw that Chen Kang, a merchant, had actually won the title of first-class honorary duke in the title of honor column! That is to say, in the entire Tang Dynasty, except for the supreme commander, anyone who sees him must salute him, which is equal to the second most noble person in the whole country! damn it! I must work hard. When I get a third-class duke, I will become the third most honorable person! The merchants knew that Chen Kang had provided Tang Long with tens of thousands of warships, so they were very self-aware and did not dare to compete with Chen Kang for the second most honored person.
The issue of the promotion system reform passed so lightly, and Tang Long didn't even need to explain why the officers of the Beluga battleship didn't have a problem with the school officer, so he just passed the test. Is the person who made him think about Datang all day long a little too simple to suspect such an obvious strange thing? Instead of paying attention to these, Chen Kang, who was concentrating on establishing enterprises and military factories in various places, found that no matter whether the people, officials or soldiers saluted him, when his self-esteem was extremely inflated, he began to feel more and more fond of Datang. .
Three months passed quickly, and Tang Long did not take any military action during these three months, instead of training the six brigades composed of X battleships and the brigade driven by elite soldiers. The White Whale Brigade was the nearly completed fortress that went to Wei Wuxing to mess with him. He also met Xingling a few times during the period, but either Tang Long was hiding from Xingling, or Xingling was hiding from Tang Long, everyone left after a few words. But in these few words, the two of them are constantly exploring each other's eyes, and avoiding each other's eyes. It made Yuna and Elsie want to tie them up and lock them in a room.
Yuna and the others began to work hard to build planets during these three months, trying to digest and appease the six planets of the Li family, which should actually be the resources and people of the five planets. Apart from those surrendered soldiers, there are no other people in Weiwuxing. Now Weiwuxing has become a big factory, and there is too much metal there.
Apart from running around in the 12 planets of Datang not counting the earth planets, Chen Kang followed Tang Long's buttocks and looked for opportunities to get the jumping device. He once reported this information to the company, and the company asked him to negotiate terms with Tang Long after confirming that the jumping device was effective, and said that if the jumping device was effective, he could exchange 10,000 X battleships. Chen Kang was quick to talk, he hadn't confirmed the effect of the jumping device yet, just like Tang Long said the price, but it was a pity that Tang Long rejected it straight away. After the company got the report, they didn't know what was going on. Not only did they not blame Chen Kang for his quick talk, but before they figured out whether the jumping device was useful or not, they started paying 20,000, 40,000, and 60,000. Add 20,000 to the price of 100,000 X battleships to exchange with Tang Long.
Unfortunately, Tang Long firmly refused again. From Tang Long's expression, Chen Kang knew that no matter how much it cost, Tang Long would not agree. Think about it too, if I have this kind of mobile fortress that no one in the universe has except myself, I won't be so stupid as to change it with others. Because the person who owns such a weapon will eventually get the entire universe, and there is nothing left by this time. It was also at this moment that Chen Kang began to speculate whether Tang Long's "unified universe" was his true wish. But I don't know why, after Chen Kang reported that the price of 100,000 warships was rejected, and Tang Long's attitude, the company didn't mention this matter to itself again. decided. But if this is the case, then why did you desperately increase the price at the beginning, as if you would not give up if you couldn't get it? I really don't understand what the people above think.
On this day, Chen Kang followed Tang Long to Weiwuxing again, but he found on the screen that the fortress composed of countless diamond-shaped white metals with a size of about 30 square meters was not as lively as it used to be. Today, except for a team of beluga warships escorting them, the engineering personnel, transport ships and engineering racks have all disappeared. The shell of the fortress has also become very clean, and the white clang is shining brightly. And the one in the middle of the fortress represents the identity of the fortress, a huge white dragon emblem on a blue background, which is even more impressive.
"Huh? Is it finished?" Chen Kang asked.
"Well, today is the trial voyage. In addition to 100 Beluga warships that can be put into battle at any time, there are also 100,000 fortress operators. How is it? Are you interested in going to the trial voyage with me?" Tang Long smiled. For the test voyage of the fortress, he also spared dozens of robots from the Beluga warship to control the fortress.
Chen Kang looked at the warship he was on, and found that there were no other officials or officers except himself and Tang Long. Seeing this, Chen Kang couldn't help thinking: "After Tang Long implemented the new promotion system, it is very difficult to see lieutenant-level officers on a warship. In other forces, lieutenant-level officers must be caught in a large number, but Here in Datang, a lieutenant-level officer is a commander who can command dozens of warships. Outsiders may think that the Tang Dynasty has many soldiers, but who knows that a major in Datang has the commanding ability of a general? It seems that Tang Long's plan to reform the system is fake, but the plan to hide the general is real."
Although Chen Kang was thinking wildly, this did not prevent him from answering Tang Long's words: "Of course, I haven't been in a fortress that needs to jump in space. I'm afraid it won't be long before we will be recorded in the annals of history."
"Oh? Don't think about it? It's very dangerous. See, I didn't even let Sally come." Tang Long narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"It doesn't matter, you have a supreme commander in the fortress, so why should I be afraid." Chen Kang said proudly. He had to be proud, because if Tang Long died because of his failure to jump, then the general manager would lose the qualification to compete for the director because of this, and he would definitely be angered by the general manager. The current self absolutely cannot tolerate living a life without power and status like before. In this case, it is better to accompany Tang Long to try his luck. I didn't inform the general manager of this sea trial today, although I knew that the general manager would definitely let himself stop Tang Long after learning that Tang Long had personally conducted the jump sea trial. The general manager has never met Tang Long face to face. If he had, he would know that Tang Long is a man who cannot change his mind. Since it can't be stopped, why bother to notify the general manager to make trouble for himself
"Okay! Very courageous. Let's go, let's get on the landing craft." Tang Long dragged Chen Kang away without waiting for Chen Kang to speak.
As the landing craft got closer and closer to the glistening white fortress, Chen Kang suddenly discovered that the fortress was not small, but rather huge. That's right, a metal ball with a diameter of more than a thousand kilometers is not too small for human beings. But for a planet, it becomes a bit small.
This fort named by Tang Long as the Silver Armor Fortress quietly opened a passage just enough to accommodate the landing craft. Pointing to this passage, Tang Long introduced to Chen Kang: "Because we are taking a landing craft now, we opened such a small passage. If you come with a battleship, it will open a passage just enough for the battleship to pass through." .This design is mainly to save unnecessary energy waste.”
"Energy saving?" Chen Kang smiled slightly: "Your main cannon with a diameter of 50 kilometers needs to consume 50 million degrees of energy every time it is fired. Your 30,000 fort cannons with a diameter of 30 meters need to be fired every time. Shooting also requires more than 10 million degrees of energy. I don’t know how much energy is used for space jumps, but I think it definitely exceeds the energy consumed by the main gun. As for the energy required for your 3 million-degree shield Needless to say. You have so much energy here, why save a little energy for moving a few armor plates?"
"It's because they consume too much energy, so we need to save as much energy as possible." Tang Long said with a smile. Having said that, it doesn't look like that at all from his appearance.
At the time of Tang Long and Chen Kanghala, the heads of the remaining four factions in the Tianhe Star Region—the Chen family, the Shangguan family, the Shengwu Empire, and the Werther Empire—were gathering in the capital palace of the Werther Empire for secret talks.
A small living room, surrounded by resplendent and antique decoration. In the center of the living room is a beautiful and priceless blanket, but it is a pity that this blanket is not cherished by the owner. A square table made of jade weighed it down. In the four directions of the table, in addition to the four luxurious single-person sand tables, there are also eight feet wearing leather boots of different models, which are also pressed against the blanket.
In this square table, sitting at the head is a middle-aged man with a hollow round crown and a beard. He is the emperor of the Werther Empire——Wei Bi Werther. On his left is a middle-aged man dressed in Confucian clothing, with a long face and a beardless expression. He is the head of the Chen family—Chen Lin. On the right side of Emperor Werther is a big man wearing a black tights, with two beards at the corners of his mouth, and his expression is calm and majestic. He is the head of the Shangguan family—Shangguan Wu. Opposite Emperor Werther was a man wearing a bright yellow silk dress with a few strange snakes embroidered on his chest and very wide sleeves. He had a beard about ten centimeters long on his chin and slender eyes. He looked very kind on the whole. But what is more strange is the hat with many beads on his head. When his head moves a little, the beads will dangle. He is the emperor of the Shengwu Empire—Zhong Zhen.
"Your Excellencies, the emperor asked everyone to come here this time mainly to discuss the affairs of the Great Tang Kingdom." Emperor Weibi Witt, who was the host, said aloud.
"Hehe, your country is thousands of miles away from the Great Tang, why are you so worried about the Great Tang that is so far away?" It was Emperor Zhong Zhen who said this. His Holy Martial Empire and the Werther Empire used to be in the same system and fought from time to time, so it is a bit conflicting to say now. Although they haven't started a war during this period, the previous resentment will not dissipate so quickly. If it hadn't been for Emperor Weibi to publicly swear on the honor of his ancestors not to harm the leaders who came to the meeting, I am afraid that no one would come to his palace.
Speaking of their truce, it was also caused by Tang Long's unexpected random attacks on other systems. They are going to take a look at the situation. If Tang Long is not sanctioned by Quanwuchao Galaxy, they are going to attack the two family systems countries next to them. Regardless of the fact that the Shangguan family has seven planets and the Li family has eight, their strength is still far behind the two empires. Although Shengwu's six planets are two fewer than Werther's eight planets, their strength is comparable. Eating persimmons and looking for soft ones, it's no wonder why they targeted the Shangguan family and the Chen family after the war stopped.
Shangguan Wu and Chen Lin certainly understood what the two empires were up to. Usually, they had a lot of conflicts with their own side of the border. If they hadn't endured it themselves, the two empires would have used this as an excuse to send troops. So seeing the two of them talking, they didn't make a sound.
Emperor Weibi frowned and said: "Your Excellency, Emperor Zhong Zhen, don't be prejudiced. We are all in the same Milky Way Star Region, so we were born and bred here. The Great Tang Kingdom is coming fiercely, and it annexed six of the Li family in a short time. Planet, of course we have to be vigilant. Do you think that guy with such a good appetite will stop moving forward after swallowing the Li family? You must know that guy Tang Long doesn’t care about the differences in systems such as family, monarchy, democracy, and religion. Yes, he is used to swallowing it in one gulp! Are you going to let him annex us one by one and complete the unification of the Milky Way Star Region?"
Hearing this, everyone frowned. Both the Shangguan family and the Chen family hope that this meeting can form a covenant, because even if Tang Long abides by the unwritten agreement not to attack other forces of different systems, the forces of his own family system will definitely be the target of his attack. So the two of them glanced at each other first, then nodded. After the two families reached a tacit understanding, Shangguan Wu first said: "I don't know how everyone is going to resist Tang Long's offensive? You must know that he has thousands of warships and tens of thousands of transport ships. We are fighting a protracted war." I can't hold it."
Emperor Weibi immediately went on to say: "Since we have a common enemy, let's reach a conclusion as soon as possible. In order to show frankness, let's talk about our family background. During this period, the Werther Empire stepped up its combat readiness and now has 3000 warships of various types and a large number of excellent combatants."
Emperor Zhong Zhen heard that what Weibi said was the same as the information collected by his intelligence agents, and knew that Weibi was sincere, so he also said: "After these years of preparations for war, my Shengwu Empire has 2,500 warships, of which 1,500 are unified ships. Type X battleships, about 1,000 ships are ordinary warships of various types. There are sufficient troops."
"Huh? Battleship X? Isn't that the battleship that Tang Long used when he started his business? Where did you buy it? Why doesn't my arms dealer have this kind of goods?" Weibi shouted in surprise. Ever since Tang Long relied on the X-ship to rise in the chaotic galaxy, this X-ship has been favored by many forces, and the business of Chen Kang's organization is really good.
"Hehe, our arms dealers are different, and the way is also different, so it's not surprising that I can buy the X battleship." Zhong Zhen, who felt that the performance of the battleship was better than Viby, said a little proudly.
Feeling Zhong Zhen's complacency, Weibi snorted coldly and fell silent. He murmured to himself, "What are you proud of? I have 500 more warships than you!" , I don’t even know that Shengwu has 1,500 X-ships, damn it!”
Shangguan Wu ignored the rivalry and jealousy between them, and said directly: "My Shangguan family has 2,000 X battleships, and the soldiers are all elites!" As soon as he finished speaking, that Chen Lin said in a flat voice: "Chen Lin There are 2,000 X battleships, and there are sufficient soldiers."
Hearing this, Weibi and Zhong Zhen were shocked. These two families usually keep silent, but they eliminated the previous battleships and replaced them with X battleships! And there are actually 2,000 ships each!
"Damn spy!" The curse sounded in the hearts of the two emperors at the same time.
Weibi adjusted his mood, and said cheerfully: "Okay, now the four of us have a total of 9,500 warships, which is a very large number. I think we could have 500 warships in those days. The galaxies are moving sideways." Wiby said this, and noticed that everyone's eyes were turned elsewhere. Knowing that they didn't like to hear it, he couldn't help saying: "Then who knows the information about Datang? Let's analyze it. Oh, Lord Shangguan, you have already given an approximate figure, so I will let you explain it." Bar."
Shangguan Wu nodded and said directly: "Because the Li family and I are the closest to Datang, when Datang unified the Zhongzhou star field, I had already started collecting information about Datang. According to the latest information , Tang Long just purchased 3,000 X battleships. Including the warships he bought before, he has a total of more than 7,000 battleships. Among them are 6,000 X battleships and 1,000 white whale battleships."
Vibe swallowed: "Six thousand X-ships?" He knew the capabilities of X-ships very well, so he looked around for arms dealers who could sell such ships, but unfortunately he couldn't find them. He didn't know that his subordinates were all benefited by the arms dealer, so he didn't go to other arms dealers at all. Otherwise, how could it be impossible to find organizations like the one Chen Kang belongs to that spread throughout the Wuchao galaxy.
Weibi heard that Datang had 6,000 X warships, and realized that his 3,000 ordinary warships might only be used as targets. He was beginning to feel discouraged, and he suddenly thought: "Well, the Chen family, Shangguan family, and Shengwu Kingdom have a total of 5,500 X-ships, and it must be X-ships against X-ships. If they both lose, my three thousand Isn't it time to pick up a warship? Hehe, when the time comes when their troops are extremely depleted and their vitality is seriously injured, I just need to...hehe." Thinking of these, his mood immediately brightened.
When Zhong Zhen heard the name of the Beluga Battleship, he immediately asked: "Then what kind of warship is the Beluga Battleship? How is its performance?"
"The data of the white whale battleship is not clear, because only Tang Long owns the entire Wuchao galaxy, and I don't know where he bought it. The performance of this kind of battleship..." Shangguan Wu paused, and suddenly talked about other topics : "When the Li family took the initiative to attack Datang's Caesar Star for the first time, they sent 500 troops. The Datang troops defending Caesar Star only had 100 white whale warships. Before the Li family saw the enemy, they were killed. The 100 beluga warships fired at long distances and killed most of them. In the end, the Li family's fleet withdrew less than one-fifth of the troops it had when it set off. And the last time the Li family went to Datang, it was all the troops of the whole country. 1,500 warships. However, they were wiped out by 900 white whale warships, and only 200 remained. In the end, these two hundred warships were forced to surrender, and it can be said that the entire army was wiped out."
"100 against 500, 900 against 1500?" Chen Lin whispered and asked, "How was the damage of the Beluga warship in these two battles?"
Shangguan Wu smiled wryly: "The first time was a long-distance shooting, and there was no damage. Although the second time was somewhat damaged, there was not one less warship in the establishment of 900 warships."
Hearing this, everyone's face immediately turned livid. At first, they thought that the combination of their four families with 9,500 warships should be very powerful, and they would definitely be able to destroy Datang. But now it seems that, not to mention Tang Long's 6,000 X-ships, just the 1,000 Beluga warships are enough to look good for him, and he is talking about destroying Datang.
For a while, no one spoke, they were all thinking about the problem. But the sudden sound of hurried footsteps from outside the door woke them up immediately. When they turned their heads to look at the gate, a palace guard had already pushed open the door and quickly knelt on the ground, shouting anxiously: "Your Majesty, a giant armed fortress of the Tang Dynasty suddenly appeared in the outer space of the capital!"
"Ah? The armed fortress of the Tang Kingdom?!" Hearing this, the four leaders exclaimed at the same time.