Chapter 304: Chapter 300: Dropping the Ball
Both the navy and army had to abandon their respective plans after Perfikot’s remarks, their hopes dashed.
After all, the critical factor in this matter wasn’t how much they could invest, nor the magnitude of their determination to accomplish it, but whether Perfikot wanted to do these things.
If she wished, it could be like a thermobaric bomb, instantly becoming a weapon for the Empire to threaten the world.
If she did not wish, no matter how the senior leaders of the navy and army begged, ultimately, it would be to no avail.
So, after their efforts came to nothing, the senior leaders of the navy and army did not persist, opting instead to leave, albeit reluctantly.
"Would the members of the Crisis Response Committee please stay for a moment? There are matters that need discussion," Perfikot said, seemingly recalling something, as she watched the lieutenant generals, whose rank was slightly lower, leave her laboratory.
The other generals, although curious about the department of the Crisis Response Committee, which had been heard but never seen, knew that some things were not suitable for their inquiry.
One must know that curiosity can kill the cat.
So, those generals sensibly left Perfikot’s laboratory, leaving only a few genuinely high-ranking and powerful members of the Crisis Response Committee.
"I don’t know what you’re thinking, or how you control your subordinates, but if this kind of thing happens again with a group blocking my laboratory, you can explain it to His Majesty yourselves! I’m not catering to this anymore!" Seeing that all unrelated people had left, Perfikot began to unleash her anger: "They don’t understand, do you also not understand? All the Empire’s resources must be focused on the doomsday crisis, yet you’re thinking about building flying warships at a time like this?
Do you think the Empire is too rich and needs to consume some of its ’excess’ resources?
What on earth are you thinking? Aren’t you considering practical problems at all, just daydreaming about expanding military preparations all day?
Let me tell you, if this happens again, I’ll build a Floating City and live in the sky; whoever cares about the Empire’s issues can deal with them, I’m done!"
Perfikot’s earlier words could be tolerated by these old generals, as it’s normal for a genius of her level to be somewhat arrogant.
Blocking her laboratory with such a large group, if she’s unhappy and wants to scold, it’s only human nature.
Moreover, she’s just a teenager, barely even the age of a granddaughter or great-granddaughter, so what does it matter if a bunch of old folks in their 70s or 80s are scolded?
But her last statement about not caring anymore startled everyone.
What a joke, all the Empire’s plans for coping with the doomsday winter are centered around Perfikot; if she backs out, there’s no one to take over.
Even though the administrative work in the Northern Territory seems to be handled mainly by civil officials, similar to the majority of Empire official departments depending on its vast civil service system.
And regarding technological research and development, Perfikot has delegated tasks to various project research teams, leaving herself free to fiddle with things like flying knights.
While at first glance it may seem possible to proceed without Perfikot, in reality, the Empire truly cannot do without her.
The entire Northern Territory expansion plan is led by Perfikot, and she’s the one who orchestrates everything.
Though the Northern Territory expansion plan seems to have already entered the right track now, able to continue under the Empire’s administrative apparatus even without Perfikot’s supervision, but... then what?
They know Perfikot intends to build shelters beneath each settlement to resist the invasion of severe cold during doomsday winter.
Yet how to construct these shelters? All they possess is a design drawing of the shelter and a shield tunneling machine still in experimental stages.
Besides that, they have nothing, neither detailed follow-up plans nor even a framework for such plans.
If Perfikot were to stop now, finding someone to take over the Northern Territory expansion plan and continue migrating people there is indeed not a significant problem; just continue copying Perfikot’s current model.
But how should these people be accommodated after coming to the Northern Territory? The Empire didn’t send them to pioneer a colony but to establish shelters in the Northern Territory to endure the doomsday winter.
Frankly, this is like an ark amidst a great flood, and Perfikot is the one building the ark.
As for all others, while they might be able to handle some tasks, even construct some parts of the ark, ultimately, the one who can assemble the entire ark has to be Perfikot.
Currently, other people in the Empire, not to mention constructing any part of the ark, they don’t even have a concept of what the ark looks like.
Expecting such people to take over Perfikot’s plan? The military bigwigs can only say you’re overthinking it. This is not something just anyone can do; even the Crisis Response Committee itself lacks such ability.
Joking aside, if they had this ability, they wouldn’t have failed to come up with a decent response plan a year ago.
Thus, when Perfikot said she might give up, the high-ranking navy and army officials panicked, treating their emotional states as if they were soothing their granddaughter, trying to placate Perfikot.
"Little Brandelis, calm down, we know we were wrong! The Empire cannot function without you, please don’t abandon everything over this matter!" The army general quickly reassured Perfikot, offering everything he could: "If you’re unhappy, just speak up. If there’s anything you need us old folks to do, just say!
If you’re truly unhappy, tell us who to beat or scold. Even if you want to annihilate a country, just say, we’ll immediately initiate war mobilization. But please don’t abandon everything!"
Indeed, to these old generals, if Perfikot wishes, even launching a war, destroying a nation would merely be a trivial matter.
After all, the Empire’s military might is already strong enough to defeat or even destroy any country in this world; were it not for the threat of doomsday winter, the military would have been ready to conquer the world.
In fact, after defeating the Triple Alliance and controlling their territories, the Empire essentially rules the entire Old World.
Understand that Victor Empire and these three countries are practically the strongest nations in the Old World; even though other countries may engage in games, with the Empire controlling the other three, no other nation can stand equally with Victor Empire.
Therefore, if Perfikot wanted, the military to make her happy would indeed destroy a country or two as something this bunch of old men could genuinely do.