Chapter 238: Fathers Counsel (2/2)

Samantha knew that recently, the council and the military had been butting heads over the matters of campaign funding.

The pan-human race council had been dominated by Earthlings ever since General Li. However, things seemed to be changing rapidly. Martians had publicly challenged Earthling's position a few times, and had exerted significant influence on the new colony states, thereby weakening the earthling's position in the council.

The debate over the funding of the Norton campaign was also part of the Martian's plan to challenge the earthing's dominance.

Under pressure from both outside and inside of the council, the Li family eventually came up with a compromise that was this so-called 'official edict' in Samantha's hand.

The students' lacked experience and had weak combat skills, but they were, nonetheless, incredibly cheap.

From a strategic point of view, the confederation's military academy system was not without its weakness. It had done little to no help in advancing the combat ability of the next generation soldiers since the best graduates all eventually ended up becoming officers who would not partake in combat. This had caused the officers of the military to be out of the touch with the foot soldiers at the bottom. General Li Feng, on the other hand, was a paragon of earnest and bravery. He started from the bottom and worked his way to the top, and therefore, he understood the difficulties the first line soldiers had.

However, right then, the idea of having the best academy graduates spend time among the ranks of the foot soldiers would seem like a joke. The students then were more pragmatic, as they considered becoming an officer as fast as they could their only goal. Therefore, Samantha knew that this edict would meet student's resistance as soon as she had finished reading it.

Anyone could do the math themselves: the risk was too high, but the benefit was nonexistent.

The students were not very eager to volunteer for the program. So far, Ayrlarng had no student who had shown his or her interest yet.

There was no position in the fleet, but even if there were, Samantha, reasoned, the situation wouldn't change the slightest since the life on a ship out in the nowhere was excruciatingly dull.

Confederation had sensed the lack of motivation among academy students, but there had been no data to draw any conclusions. Therefore, they had purposely decreed the enlistment a voluntary act, so the edict served a census across academies. So far, Ayrlarng had zero volunteers.

House Li.

”Are you looking for me, father?” Li Shiming asked respectfully.

”You volunteered to go to Norton?”

”Yes, father.”

Li Daozhe turned around to face his son. Lights reflected off the hard lines etched to his face. His gaze was soft and caring, but his figure projected a sense of dominance. He was the backbone of the Confederation: Einherjar Li Daozhe.

”You had done well in the recent series of events, although your methods could be more discrete.”

”Please father, I am listening.”

”The exercise on Paradise Island was near flawless, but your involvement won't escape Ma Dutian.”

”Father, I had just visited Uncle Ma. He seemed normal to me. Plus, we had cleaned all evidence on the island.”

”Hehe. Don't underestimate your Uncle Ma; he is smarter than anyone else. The lack of evidence was a telltale sign. Who else, except for the Li Family could have done so much damage without leaving any evidence?”

Li Shiming chewed on his father's words for a while and bowed deeply, ”Thank you for your counsel, father. But, what should I do next?”