The business executives of the Wotan Alliance had long heard about the Empire's various practices.
It's a sin to give so much money to those guys for free.
Even debt transfer is better than this.
“Do we really want to forgive all the debt?” one executive shuddered. “That would easily lead to chaos.”
"Report this to the Empire again. Those people will turn the tables if they don't have any debts."
“How can there be any restraint for them without debt!
“
"Yes, sir, you should be cautious. Those people fear power but not virtue. There is no need to forgive their debts."
"This matter is not up to you." Wesker glanced at the executives standing in front of him and said word by word: "Don't try to do things secretly. If you do it well, you will live. If you don't do it well, you will all be executed, and the order of this world will be reshuffled."
Due to manpower constraints, the empire's reforms were often crude and left to the locals who were willing to submit.
These people do not have the courage to resist the empire, but they are surprisingly brave in making money by taking advantage of the imperial reforms.
On the eve of the reform, they desperately borrowed money and emptied the local fiscal funds, and then took advantage of the arrival of the empire to write off all the loans with a stroke of the pen.
He took all the assets of those companies into his own name.
Human nature is always complex.
The purpose of exempting major companies from borrowing money from civilians is, firstly, to win over the people's hearts, and secondly, to enable the locals to escape from such a repressive life.
However, when it was put into practice, it became completely different.
As long as they get some power, they will try their best to transfer as many assets as possible to their own names, thinking of becoming a rich man after the empire comes.
Wesker had seen too many people like that.
If they are not careful, those who are consumed by desire will kill each other for money.
The verbal threat was just a warning to these people that the Empire would conduct another review later.
Anyone who dares to cheat will pay the price for his stupidity.
"We are all dedicated to our duties," said a female supervisor. "We will never let down the Holy Emperor and the Empire."
The female supervisor spoke with deep emotion.
Wesker had a mocking look on his face.
He didn't believe a word of this.
Not long ago, they declared that they would fight the empire to the end.
Defend the Alliance, defend their homes.
Do everything you can to fight these terrible imperial invaders to the last moment.
And now, they have learned the Rite of the Eagle even more formally than Wesker.
If Wesker didn't know their background, he would have suspected that the Empire had sent them here as undercover agents.
This is reality, this is human nature.
"My lords, you must be very tired after all this traveling. Why don't I take you to rest first? Tonight is the welcome banquet, and tomorrow we will discuss in detail how to promote the empire's policies. Please come this way."
Under the leadership of those supervisors, Wesker entered the buildings that he had envied in the past.
In the Wotan Alliance, corporations and non-corporates are two completely different worlds.
Whether it is the dwarves or humans living there, there is no clear division between corporations and non-corporates.
The top leaders of the Wotan Alliance divided up part of their own interests.
Those who receive these benefits will subconsciously support the rule of corporations and enterprises when they see the contrast between their own lives and the lives of non-corporate groups.
They think they are superior to others and are not on the same level as those who work hard to earn money at the bottom of the corporate ladder.
He always considers the top leaders and deliberately supports the Wotan Alliance in order to gain more benefits.
The complex of buildings where the company's employees and executives live covers a large area and is clean and tidy, with a strong sense of technology.
The building in the center is a dome structure made of silver-white metal and reinforced glass.
It is obvious that a company has set up a branch here.
It is different from the harsh environment in which ordinary people live.
The buildings where company executives and employees live and work are exquisite.
There is plenty of space between them.
There is no concept of setting up streets on the ground, and instead there are flower beds, lawns and forests.
Take a deep breath and feel the fresh air.
It gives people a feeling of being on the grassland.
The employees of those companies were dressed neatly and moved around like ants.
Everywhere is full of humanized comfort and pleasure.
Wesker thought of his past, when he was working with his back to the sky, facing the earth, driving a broken harvester and working in the scorching heat of 40 degrees.
It is a happy thing to be able to drink a sip of cold beer after work.
But at the end of a day, you are lucky if you can get 20% of the successful results of your work.
Basically, I have to pay the interest on the loan every day.
It's so painful.
Look at other people here, they work comfortably, have a beautiful environment, and enjoy life comfortably.
The gap in living standards between people is even greater than that between people and dogs.
When the staff saw Wesker and others walking over, fear was revealed in their eyes.
Everyone knows what the coming of the empire means.
Their good days are about to end.
The empire was forgiven of its debts.
The business was also wiped out.
How can they maintain and continue such a peaceful life
Wesker observed and it was obvious that these people did not welcome the arrival of the Empire.
He even saw a few students with angry faces, clenched fists, and full of hatred.
When he looked at the people of the empire, he wished he could eat them with his fangs and claws.
They didn't speak, but expressed their thoughts with their eyes.
A bunch of traitors, shameful traitors.
All these beasts who surrendered to the empire should be sent to the gallows.
Wesker frowned slightly, feeling that this reform would not be so easy.
There will definitely be strong resistance.
He finally understood why those students hated them so much!
In their eyes, the Wotan Alliance is their home.
This family ensures that they have no worries about food and clothing, feel superior to others, and enjoy the privileges that come with their status.
They will grow up, inherit their parents' property and jobs, and continue to enjoy the beauty of this place.
The coming of the Empire destroyed all of this.
That would explain their anger.
Preventing someone from getting rich is like killing his parents.
This old saying will never be wrong in any era.
Wesker, feeling the malice of those people, swore secretly.
No matter what, we will ensure that the normal reform of the planet Velo will not develop to the point where the Empire will be involved.
... ... ...
Wesker returned to the planet Velo with more than 10,000 people.
It is just the size of a regular regiment.
There were more than a dozen officers including him.
Two-thirds of them were from the planet Velo.
The rest were soldiers who had been conscripted from nearby galaxies.
Like Wesker, they all came from the bottom of society.
That is the so-called non-corporate group.
After the border surrendered to the empire, Code, who led the soldiers to revolt, had become a general, responsible for commanding the many soldiers who revolted at that time.
To resolve the issue of the Alliance Army's loyalty to the Empire.
The empire usually purges or demotes and reorganizes those officers.
Some smart and capable ones were selected from the ranks of low-level soldiers to supplement the troops.
Wesker and others were also promoted.
It was Wesker who took the initiative to apply to return to the planet Velo.
The Empire rarely airdrops commanders.
Because the customs and habits of each planet are different.
In addition, the Imperial Army does not legally support the commander of an airborne regiment of the army composed of citizens of a planet.
The military forces of a planet can only be assigned to that general, and he can control and command them.
According to the Imperial Autocratic Democracy, the main body of the Empire is composed of humans who join Terra on a planet-by-planet basis, forming a human autocratic regime.
After abiding by the rules set by the Imperial Constitution, the State Religion, the Inquisition, etc., the planets have certain rights of autonomy.
The governor who governs the entire planet is elected by the people of that planet themselves.
It represents the interests of that planet.
The governor would then swear allegiance to the empire on behalf of all citizens.
The interstellar chamber of commerce under the control of the empire will integrate it into the empire's economic system according to local minerals, assets and population, ensuring that it can enjoy power and fulfill its obligations, forming a win-win situation of 1+1>2.
The planet needs to pay taxes to the empire, provide troops, maintain the state religion, and be 100% loyal to the Holy Emperor.
In exchange for these payments, they can gain the protection of the Imperial Army, obtain technical support from the Mechanicus and Imperial scientific research institutions, increase productivity, and occupy a position in interstellar trade, improving their living standards through the interstellar economy.
Much of the work of the Terran Council is to ensure that the system is not undermined by the selfishness and greed of human nature, and to ensure that the dignity of every citizen of the Empire is upheld.
The Interstellar Chamber of Commerce uses gentle, indirect means and commercial trade to plunder wealth for redistribution, support the empire's various expenses, and keep the various planets in the empire at a similar level to avoid excessive wealth gaps.
Simply put, the current wealth gap in the empire is.
The rich can hire someone to wash their hover car, but the poor have to wash their hover car themselves.
Everyone has a big yellow cow.
At most, your cow is fatter and my cow is thinner.
There will never be a situation where the rich own a herd of big buffaloes and the poor only have a small snail.
However, the situation of the Wotan League is very complicated.
Even more exaggerated than the original empire.
The Empire was then in the midst of various crises caused by Chaos and aliens.
The wealth disparity is large, but not as great as that of the Wotan League.
The wealth of the Wotan Alliance has become overly concentrated in the hands of the 0.0000001%.
The poor man not only owed others a snail, but also owed them two big buffaloes.
This situation also made the problems of the Wotan Alliance complicated.
The reforms on many planets have not been smooth.
Some people are secretly dividing interests and engaging in intrigue.
When they cannot satisfy their own desires, they will incite ignorant people to rebel.
This ultimately led to the military suppression of the entire planet.
Such news emerges in an endless stream.
Many people in the Wotan Alliance stubbornly believe that the Empire is an invader, coming to take away their homes and destroy their lives.
Without complete information channels, it is easy to be fooled by those in power who control public opinion and have ulterior motives.
Using various stigmatization and information asymmetry to incite ignorant people to rebel against the empire, it ultimately led to large-scale bloodshed.
After experiencing several suppression incidents, Wesker found that many people's behavior could really be described as ignorant and stupid.
They seem smart, but they don't have the ability to distinguish right from wrong or to verify facts.
Stubbornly believe that right is right and wrong is wrong.
Such people can be instigated by those with ulterior motives with just a few words and put themselves on the brink of a dangerous abyss.
He has no idea that he is just a gun used by others and is being controlled by others.
When the other party gets what they want, they will just let go, leaving them there confused and helpless, becoming the victims of the empire's wrath.
This kind of thing keeps repeating and happening over and over again.
Those people will also be exploited again and again until they are worthless and completely abandoned.
Wesker didn't want that to happen in his hometown.
That's why he came back.
The Empire's repression is no joke.
Once the regular troops of the empire are dispatched, those who dare to join the ranks of those who resist the empire.
Regardless of the reason, they would be executed or sent to a penal camp.
Some will even be transformed into atonement machine slaves, and have to spend their entire lives atonement for their sins.
Imagine that a system that was originally extremely beneficial to you, was provoked by a few words from someone because you did not understand it, and you became irrational and went crazy to fight against the empire.
Eventually, he was suppressed by the Empire and transformed into a redemption machine slave.
However, the people who instigated you pretended to be innocent, took the benefits, retreated behind the scenes, and lived a good life.
No matter how smart and capable the officials of the empire were, there was no way to screen hundreds of planets and tens of billions of rebels to find the innocent ones among them.
Even with the help of a super-intelligent brain, it is difficult to ensure that there will be no false or wrongful convictions.
Wesker would never allow such a thing to happen in his hometown.
That's why he came back.
We must ensure that the planet Welo reforms smoothly and integrates into the empire, avoiding bloody riots and forceful suppression by the empire.
He was not very interested in the lavish banquet.
The banquet was very lively.
Many slender guards shuttled around, serving fine wine and delicious food one after another.
Every time a new dish is served, a uniformed butler will loudly announce the name of the dish.
How to evaluate!
Wesker felt that this should be the so-called aristocratic sense of ritual!
Any dish here is equivalent to a farmer's annual income.
Wesker, however, did not feel any joy or excitement.
He is not suitable for such occasions.
The executives and guests were very respectful to Wesker and others, even though they had no idea about dining etiquette.
However, Wesker knew that behind these scantily clad, sexy female guests and those exquisite, delicious dishes were the soft knives of those executives.
They hope to gain more benefits from the reform.
They didn't really care about either the parliament of the Wotan League or accepting the rule of the Holy Emperor.
They care more about whether their own interests will be harmed.
How can we take advantage of this situation to gain greater voice and benefits
After attending the banquet for a while, he politely declined the other party's invitation to stay.
He went straight back to his hometown.
In order to avoid causing fear, he did not take the military gunboat, but borrowed a hoverbike.
The hoverbike can fly up to fifteen meters high.
This height is enough to avoid most obstacles.
Most of the planet Velo is plains and deserts, and the hoverbike can reach many areas without obstacles.
The maximum speed of the hoverbike can reach 1000km/h.
Wesker drove his motorcycle back to his hometown.
The colonized planet of Velo is mainly agricultural.
Along the way, you can see large tracts of cultivated land.
The grape trellises fixed by white supports cover the undulating mountains, which are lush and verdant, stretching as far as the eye can see.
Automatic sprinkler systems are set up at regular intervals to ensure that the grape crops are covered.
Wheat is generally grown on plains, which is convenient for mechanized operations.
There are special hydroponic vegetable bases at regular intervals.
As we flew over, we basically saw farmland or various economic crops, fruits and trees.
The planet Velo is highly developed and traces of development can be seen everywhere.
Except for those wastelands that cannot be developed or are too costly to develop, most of them have been developed.
Farmers carefully raise their crops to ensure a good harvest and bring them wealth.
Wesker was excited by this familiar scene.
He went home.
This is where he was born.
His soul is connected to Willow.
Going home is not a very time-consuming thing.
Two hours later, the shabby town sign appeared before his eyes.
The town was as desolate as ever.
It looked almost lifeless.
After paying off their debts, people don’t have much money left to spend.
As a result, the town's economy has not improved much.
People are indeed very hardworking, but unfortunately this is not an era where hard work can make you rich.
The Wotan Alliance took away all the wealth using "reasonable and legal" means.
Wesker's return was still warmly welcomed.
The people of the town did not speak ill of Wesker for surrendering to the Empire.
Wesker is part of their town, and his character is evident to all.
Courageous and honest.
Dare to fight for a better life.
Compared to the concept of the Alliance, they love Wesker the real person more.
Wesker and his welcome went to the only bar in town.
The news of his return spread quickly.
People came from all over.
Soon the bar was packed.
"The Empire has promised that our debt will end here, and we will all be debt-free from now on," Wesker said to his neighbors and friends. "At the same time, we can elect a governor who represents the interests of the planet Velo and pledge our loyalty to the Empire."
When they heard that the debt was forgiven, everyone cheered.
But after hearing the latter part, people showed confused expressions.
"Is the governor useful?" said a wrinkled old man. "We have elected many officials, but in the end they are just puppets of the business owners."
"That kind of game is meaningless. They pick a few people for us to choose from." A young man said indignantly, "It's just a waste of time."
"We decide who will be the governor, and anyone can run as long as you think you can gain more benefits for the planet Welo and talk and fight on our behalf," Wesker said.
"You are too young, Wesker, this is just a game." Someone in the crowd said.
"At least we can have some sense of participation." Wesker joked: "Anyway, the debt is forgiven."
After a pause, Wesker continued, "We need to be careful in choosing a governor. We need someone who can truly speak for us. Each planet has a little autonomy to adapt to our cultural life and society. The governor is also the one who connects with the Interstellar Chamber of Commerce and confirms our position in the imperial economic system."
"Even if we take a step back, the Governor is still the one who rules us according to the laws of the Empire. If we don't want to leave our fate to someone who doesn't consider us, then we have to take action, elect the people we need, and cooperate with the Empire's reforms."
Wesker did his best to explain the reforms of the Empire.
Make sure his hometown isn't stupid enough to be fanned.
Of course, he will also do this work in other places.
But before that, he needs the support of his hometown.
Agriculture is well developed on the planet Welo, and each gathering place is basically the size of a small town, with only a handful of large cities.
"We can all get a better life." Wesker promised his hometown people: "We will no longer become beasts without dignity, but before that, we must learn how to defend our rights. Don't care whether the institution that rules us is the Empire or the Wotan Alliance. What we have to defend is our rights, the rights to be born as human beings. Whoever can make us live like human beings, that's who we will support."
"Do you want your future to be determined when you are born? Do you want your children to be born with a debt that they need to repay for the rest of their lives? Everyone should decide their own future. This is the meaning of life. One day, we will all return to death. Whether it is pain or happiness, it will be the only thing we can get."
"When you are dying, you look back on your life and realize that you have never had a single day of happiness. Is it really meaningful to live to pay off a debt and dedicate your life to a meaningless concept
”
Wesker raised his hands and shouted.
"We have to live for ourselves. Whether tomorrow is sad or painful, it is our own choice."
... ... ..
... ... ... ... ... ..
The most advanced Como Academy on the planet Velo.
The institution was founded by the first generation of colonists who colonized the planet Velo.
So far, it has been passed down for thousands of years.
Those who can enter this institution are basically elites, the best of the best.
In addition to personal qualifications, a recommendation letter written by a senior executive is also required.
Those who do not meet the requirements basically cannot enter here.
If you could come in here, your life would be very different.
More than 80% of the senior executives of Planet Welo come from this institution, so you can imagine how powerful this place is.
"This is betrayal." At the port, the student who angrily criticized Wesker and others stood in front of a group of students from the Como Academy and said sadly, "This is a betrayal of a civilization that has been passed down for thousands of years. Those damn invaders trampled on our excellent civilization and fooled our compatriots. The Wotan Alliance is in danger and is on the verge of destruction."
"We all have to wake up, stand up, and make sacrifices to defend it. Stop that damned empire from harming us any further, send those traitors to the gallows, and let them know what the consequences are for betraying the alliance and their own homeland!
”
"Then are we going to fight with weapons?" someone asked.
"Yes, we have to fight. The happiness that was taken away by violence can only be regained by violence. Some of us will sacrifice, but the sacrifice is worth it because we are fighting for Velo, fighting to defend our civilization, and fighting to defend our dignity." said the student.
"When do we start?" one person asked.
"We will take action during the celebration in a few days." The student said, "We will make those damn traitors pay the price and let them know that all citizens of the planet Velo will never submit to the dictatorship of the evil empire."